Art School Confidential

I finally saw this. Do see it if you haven't.

I've been thinking about the film for a couple of days now. I liked it a lot, as it gave me what I was hoping for: a clever swat at the hothouse world of art school. I didn't really go in expecting to be dazzled by the plot...the original comic the film is based on is free of plot. The plot of the film is kind of silly, but it ends with a twist I appreciated and seemed more rooted in the sensibility of Clowes. The final shot of the film looks very much like one of his drawn panels. Obviously he and Terry Zwigoff enjoy working with each other, since they partnered before on Ghost World. I appreciate the attempts to bring Clowes unique material to the screen. I'm not sure the atmosphere produced by his artwork is quite captured in the films.

I'm not a comic or film critic by any stretch of the imagination. Just a casual consumer. I'm just an artist (and a failed comic book artist). On a whim I picked up a copy of Bruce Campbell's If Chins Could Kill last year at Dark Carnival Books. I liked the title and it was on sale. Sold. I've read it at least twice all the way through now and dip into it repeatedly. My viewing of films has been entirely altered. I thought the book would be a fun memoir, and it is. But huge chunks of it are very readable descriptions of the creative and technical processes that go into making films and TV series. I would recommend the book to any young artist who is interested in film. I am not, but now I have greater respect for the medium (and Campbell) and I'm staggered by the amount of sheer spadework that goes into making one.

Which doens't make me an expert of course. But now I tend to think more carefully before I say "That reeked." when I see I film that I don't like, etc. I don't have to labor the point, I hope. Art School Confidential and Ghost World do not reek, of course. But neither really have the mood of Eightball. It's there in spots. I wonder if it's because the films tend to make the story about the characters and water down the mysteriousness. When I read Eightball, I feel like I do when looking at Dada artwork or film. I feel for the characters, but I feel distant from them too. We seem meant to observe them like animals in Skinner boxes designed by Marcel Duchamp.

I realize that the films are separate creations, and that books almost never translate entirely to the big screen. But I wonder if a different director might have come closer. I really like Zwigoff. I wouldn't watch Bad Santa until I saw that he directed it. Then I watched over and over on cable, and I laugh my ass off every time. It's very dark. The trailer makes it look slapstick and heartwarming, so I won't bother to link to it. It occured to me that it is a story more like something Robert Crumb would write and draw. It might be a stretch, but Thorton's character reminds me of Fritz the Cat, middle age and dead-ended.

I like that the artist works so closely with the Zwigoff, and he must obviously trust him with his material. I just read an interview where Zwigoff states that he and Clowes are collaborating again. I just hope it's not Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron. Just sayin'.