Directed by Terry Zwigoff and written by Daniel Clowes that is based on his comic book series, Art School Confidential is the story of a young artist who enters a prestigious art school where he deals with snobbish students, untalented teachers, and all sorts of people while falling for a young model. The film explores the world of art school where a young man aspires to be a great artist only to deal with the dos and don’ts of the world while a murder mystery occurs. Starring Max Minghella, Sophia Myles, Anjelica Huston, Matt Keeslar, Jim Broadbent, Ethan Suplee, and John Malkovich. Art School Confidential is a witty though messy film from Terry Zwigoff.
The film plays into a young artist whose aspirations to be the best and most important has him going into a prestigious art school where it is nothing as it seems where he deals with snobbish classmates, mediocre classes, and teachers who are really out of touch with the world of art. Yet, it is told in a humorous manner that includes a subplot about a series of mysterious deaths by a serial strangler where one of the students tries to make a film based on these deaths. It plays into the absurdity of art school where there’s students who believe they’re talented but they’re not while there are those who know they’re talented but feel unappreciated just like the film’s protagonist Jerome Platz (Max Minghella). One aspect of the film that adds to his characterization is how flawed he is where he is kind of full of himself and sometimes tries to act cool or whatever where he would take the wrong advice by a famous artist during a seminar.
Daniel Clowes’ script doesn’t just play into the world of art school and a young’s idealism over what he thinks would happen but also in how warped the reality of the art world is. Yet, it is told with an element of satire where many of the art school cliques and wannabes are portrayed in a humorous fashion while there are these many questions about what art is from Jerome’s perspective. Even as he has trouble with the work of one classmate in Jonah (Matt Keeslar) whose work is quite conventional yet receives the praise of classmates and their teacher in the local art figure Sandiford (John Malkovich). Being forced to compete with Jonah over admiration as well as the heart of the model Audrey (Sophia Myles). While the film’s subplot about the strangling of locals does make the script messy, it would add to key moments in the third act as it relates to Jerome’s desire for admiration.
Terry Zwigoff’s direction is very simple in terms of its compositions as well as the way he presents the world of art school. Shot largely on location in Los Angeles and Pasadena, California, the film does have this sense of a community that is part-Bohemian and part-high art as the latter relates to a scene where Jerome goes to a party held by an eccentric gallery owner. The usage of wide and medium shots add to this unique world of local art while Zwigoff also goes for some intimacy in some scenes including meetings Jerome would have with a reclusive yet brilliant artist named Jimmy (Jim Broadbent). While Zwigoff’s approach to humor is quite engaging, he does falter a bit on the suspense as it relates to the subplot of this mysterious strangler where it does make the film very uneven film that loses sight in what it wants to be. Though it does come to ahead in its third act, it does play into the fallacy of the desire of fame and glory as well as the fact that art is never meant to be taken seriously. Overall, Zwigoff creates a very compelling yet flawed film about a young artist’s desire to be great at art school.
Cinematographer Jamie Anderson does excellent work with the film‘s cinematography from the colorful scenes in the daytime to the low-key lighting in some of the classrooms as well as some stylish textures in some scenes set at night. Editor Robert Hoffman does nice work with the editing as it‘s mostly casual in terms of its cutting style with a few slow-motion cuts as well as a few stylish cuts in the suspenseful moments of the film. Production designer Howard Cummings, with set decorator Barbara Munch and art director Peter Borck, does fantastic work with the look of the classrooms and art studios as well as the galleries for the students to express their love of art.
Costume designer Betsy Heimann does terrific work with the costumes as it is mostly casual with the exception of some of the classmates as it plays into every kind of cliché in the world of art school where some look grungy or some try to look trendy. Sound editor John Nutt does superb work with the sound to play into the atmospheres of the parties as well as some of the intimate moments that occur during the classes. The film’s music by David Kitay is wonderful for its piano-based score as it features some unique melodies and textures that play into its humor and suspense while much of the film soundtracks include some classical pieces as well as a few rock songs.
The casting by Ann Goulder and Cassandra Kulukundis is brilliant as it features some notable small roles from Ezra Buzzington as a nude model, Katherine Moennig as a friend of Audrey, and in various roles of the art students, Scoot McNairy, Shelly Cole, Brian Geraghty, Jeanette Box, Lauren Lee Smith, and Isaac Laskin as the many kind of clichéd art students who all think they’re great. Ethan Suplee is terrific as Jerome’s aspiring filmmaker roommate Vince who wants to make a film about the mysterious strangler while Nick Swardson is just fucking awful as a closeted fashion designer who tries to be funny but it feels forced and unnatural. Joel David Moore is funny as Jerome’s friend Bardo who is an observer who had seen all kinds of students while Anjelica Huston is fantastic in her brief yet crucial role as an art teacher who had seen everything as she would give Jerome some really spot-on advice.
Steve Buscemi is superb in a cameo appearance as an eccentric gallery owner in Broadway Bob D’Annunzio as someone that is typical of the pretentiousness of the art world. Adam Scott is excellent as the famed artist Marvin Bushmiller as someone who is a fuckin’ asshole as he provides some bad advice to young artists in making it which only puts Jerome into a path that ends up being unrewarding. Jim Broadbent is amazing as Jimmy as a reclusive artist who is gifted but very cynical about the art world as he reveals some of the fallacies about trying to be great. Matt Keeslar is wonderful as Jonah as an art student that is known for making very conventional art yet proves to be a very nice guy with a secret of his own.
John Malkovich is phenomenal as Professor Sandiford as this artist-turned-professor who is quite odd in his teachings and views on art only to be seen as someone that is really just mediocre. Sophia Myles is radiant as Audrey as an art student/model who shares Jerome’s sense of disdain toward some of the idealism of art but is also confused by what people see as art. Finally, there’s Max Minghella in a marvelous performance as Jerome as a young artist that aspires to be great only to contend with some of the demands of compromise, bad critiques, and other odd things that forces him to ponder if his own art means anything.
***The Following 2 Paragraphs are from the Original Review of the Film Written for Epinions.com on 12/17/06 w/ Additional Edits***
The 2006 Region 1 DVD from Sony Pictures Classic & United Artists presents the film in the 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen ration with 5.1 Dolby Digital in English, Spanish, and Portugese, and 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound in French. Subtitles in English, French, Spanish, Portugese, and Chinese are available, especially in some of the film's special features. The special features includes five several featurettes starting with a making-of scene where Zwigoff and Clowes discuss the inspiration of the film while talking to several of its actors including Max Minghella and Sophia Myles, who are both British, as they enjoyed working with Zwigoff. The Sundance Featurette which includes interviews with several cast member including crew members as they discussed the screening. Minghella, admits that watching himself is depressing yet he enjoyed the audience reaction.
11-minutes worth of 12 deleted scenes are revealed in which some of them are funny and heartwrenching. One funny scene reveals the frustration of Sandiford while another reveals more of the tension between Jonah and Jerome including a scene where Jonah learns something that Jerome had said. Another deleted scene featurette involves the film's ending where Jerome's classmates make comments about a character's artwork and give their opinions. The blooper reel is really hilarious where all the actors are laughing including a scene of Malkovich trying to destroy a painting and another where he makes Minghella laugh by saying "Charo, Charo" repeatedly. The reel also includes an alternate take of an interview with Malkovich for the film. Finally, the DVD includes several trailers for films like The Devil & Daniel Johnston, Pedro Almodovar's Volver, Zhang Yimou's Curse of the Golden Flower, Stranger Than Fiction, and the teaser trailer to Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette.
***End of DVD Tidbits***
Art School Confidential is a stellar yet flawed film from Terry Zwigoff. Featuring a great cast as well as a humorous critique on the world of art and art school, the film is a unique look into the world of art and the fallacies of those wanting to be famous. In the end, Art School Confidential is a superb film from Terry Zwigoff.
Terry Zwigoff Films: Louie Bluie - Crumb - Ghost World - Bad Santa - The Auteurs #53: Terry Zwigoff
© thevoid99 2016
Written and directed by Whit Stillman, The Last Days of Disco is the story about two college graduates who work at a publishing house by day as they go to disco clubs in the early 1980s in its waning days trying to find love and fun. The film is about a period in time where things are changing as two women try to spend as much time in a nightclub soaking in these final days while facing the uncertainty of their future. Starring Chloe Sevigny, Kate Beckinsale, Chris Eigeman, Mackenzie Astin, Matt Keeslar, Matt Ross, Tara Subkoff, Jennifer Beals, and Robert Sean Leonard. The Last Days of Disco is an extraordinary comedy-drama from Whit Stillman.
The era of the disco craze was a place where many people get the chance to go to nightclubs, have a few drinks, and dance to some good music. While there were also dangerous elements of cocaine and promiscuous sex involved, it was a period in time that at least got people together to have fun. For two young post-graduates in Alice (Chloe Sevigny) and Charlotte (Kate Beckinsale), they go to a lavish nightclub as regulars just to have a good time as a way to escape the dreariness of everyday life where they work at a publishing house. While the two women aren’t exactly best friends, they do move in together with another woman while dealing with ideas of falling in love, dealing with the future, and the role of being a woman. Through the men they meet, they endure all sorts of challenges about what to expect in a man as the men themselves are also dealing with their own issues. Especially as the age of disco starts to go into a major decline forcing these two women to deal with the changes in their environment and in themselves.
Whit Stillman’s screenplay does play to themes that he’s known for as well as setting them transitional periods of time. While the film is set in the early 80s during disco’s decline, the script is structured to play out this period of decline where the first half is about the good times in the age of disco while its second half is about its inevitable fallout due to drugs, sexual promiscuity, and other big things. Particularly as it revolves on several characters in the film aside from Alice and Charlotte. Notably the men such as one of the club’s managers in Des (Chris Eigeman), an advertising executive in Jimmy (Mackenzie Astin), and an assistant D.A. in Josh (Matt Keeslar) as they are all part of the group that Alice and Charlotte are in. While there’s a few extra people that are part of this group, they all discuss about their roles in life as well as how to advance in life.
While Alice and Charlotte are these young women who have ambition and go to nightclubs, they are very different women as far as personalities are concerned. Charlotte is very outgoing in the way she deals with thing as well as being extremely opinionated as well as the fact that she’s kind of a bitch. Alice is a more soft-spoken individual who has idealism of what she wants in a man but her encounters end up being very troubling. While she finds something in guys like Des, Jimmy, and Josh as well as their flaws, it does have her raise questions about what she wants in a relationship while Charlotte believes she knows more yet she ends up going through the same questions as Alice about what she wants. Things do get more serious in the third act where the men in these women’s lives deal with not just themselves but also what they want just as the nightclub they all hang out is starting to close.
Stillman’s direction is very fascinating for not just the way the whole world of disco is presented but also the way he presents this rise of the world of the yuppies. There is a clash of these two very different cultures that each represents a different period in time yet Stillman is more interested in the people who are living in this transition of time. Stillman’s approach to framing is quite straightforward but still engaging in the way the characters are seen as well as how they conduct their lives. There is still humor that is present in these conversations as well as some of the action that occurs while it is mostly low-key and dramatic. Particularly as it plays to what these men are going through as Jimmy is trying to advance in the advertising world though he is considered to be a pariah at the club. The club manager Des is someone who is going through a sexual identity crisis while trying to help manage a club that is being targeted by the IRS and the NYPD.
The direction is also very playful while playing with the idea of anachronisms where Stillman uses footage of the infamous Disco Demolition Night in Chicago as well as raid in Studio 54. One aspect in playing with the anachronisms that does help with the film’s plot is the fact that there’s characters from Stillman’s previous films that appear who will help impact the fate of a few characters. Still, there is this build-up to the end where it involves lots of authority figures trying to close down this club that causes a lot of conflict for Josh. Even as it plays to some very dramatic moments about how he’s feeling for Alice as well as the fact that he’s kind of a friend for Des. The film’s ending is about the end of disco but is it really an end? There’s a great monologue that Stillman writes about disco’s demise that really plays true to not just about that period of time but also what it meant to people. Overall, Stillman creates a very rich and wonderfully smart comedy-drama about changing times and identity.
Cinematographer John Thomas does excellent work with the cinematography from the lighting presentation for many of the nightclub scenes to the more straightforward exterior look of New York City. Editors Andrew Hafitz and Jay Pires do fantastic work with the editing by utilizing rhythmic cuts to capture the tone of the conversations as well as some of the scenes in the clubs. Production designer Ginger Tougas does brilliant work with the look of the club many of the characters hang out at as well as the apartment that Alice and Charlotte live in. Costume designer Sarah Edwards does amazing work with the costumes from the more casual, yuppie-like clothes many of the characters wear in the day to the more stylish dresses the women wear at the club.
Sound editor Paul Soucek does wonderful work with the sound to capture atmosphere of the nightclubs as well as the more quieter moments in the work place and at the apartment. The film’s music by Mark Suozzo is terrific as it‘s mostly a low-key orchestral score to play out some of the dramatic scenes or scenes in the office. Music supervisor Peter Afterman does a superb job in compiling a soundtrack filled with some amazing disco classics from artists like Chic, Diana Ross, the O’Jays, Andrea True Connection, Alicia Bridges, Blondie, Sister Sledge, and many others as well as some reggae in the mix and late 60s soul music.
The casting by Billy Hopkins, Suzanne Smith, and Kerry Barden is incredible as it features some appearances from Jaid Barrymore as a club-goer known as Tiger Lady, George Plimpton and Anthony Haden-Guest as a couple of famous club-goers, Mark McKinney as a bar waiter, Michael Weatherly as a client of Jimmy’s who gets into the club, David Thornton as the club owner, Edoardo Ballerini as a club manager, and Burr Steers as the club doorman Van. Other notable small roles features some very funny appearances from Stillman’s previous films such as Carolyn Farina, Taylor Nichols, Bryan Leder, and Dylan Hundley replaying their roles from Metropolitan while Nichols also plays the character he played in Barcelona that includes Debbon Ayer as that protagonist’s future ex-girlfriend. Jennifer Beals is wonderful as a lover of Des who feels slighted by him while Robert Sean Leonard is excellent as a one-night stand Alice was with who later treats her like dirt.
Matt Ross is terrific as Alice and Charlotte’s co-worker Dan who hangs out with them while creating some fascinating observations about the disco world. Tara Subkoff is very good as Alice and Charlotte’s roommate Holly who is a very nice girl that Dan later dates though she is someone who admittedly makes questionable dating choices. Mackenzie Astin is superb as the advertising executive Jimmy who is trying to get into the club to help his career while making some discoveries about the club’s business. Matt Keeslar is great as the assistant D.A. Josh who goes to the club to discover the world of disco while some of his discoveries put him into conflict over what he should do as well as his feelings for Alice.
Chris Eigeman is marvelous as the club manager Des who tries to keep the club in order while dealing with his own sexual identity as he ponders about whether he’s really into women or not as it’s a very witty performance from the Stillman regular. Kate Beckinsale is remarkable as the very outspoken Charlotte as a woman who is very lively and opinionated while often saying the wrong things at times as it is a very delightfully charming performance from Beckinsale. Finally, there’s Chloe Sevigny in a brilliant performance as Alice as a young woman who is unsure about what she wants while dealing with some of the pratfalls about love as well with a discovery that could make or break her career.
The Last Days of Disco is an outstanding film from Whit Stillman that features top-notch performances from Chloe Sevigny, Kate Beckinsale, and Chris Eigeman. Along with a very fun music soundtrack, the film is definitely an intriguing piece into the world of identity and changing times as well as a look into the last days of the disco culture. The film is also very accessible in the way it deals with people discussing big themes in a setting where a lot is happening where these people are eager to escape from that craziness. In the end, The Last Days of Disco is a fabulous film from Whit Stillman.
Whit Stillman Films: Metropolitan - Barcelona - Damsels in Distress - Love & Friendship - The Auteurs #21: Whit Stillman
© thevoid99 2013
