Art School Confidential (2006)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Terry Zwigoff

Writers (WGA):

Daniel Clowes (screenplay)
Daniel Clowes (comic story)

Release Date:

10 November 2006 (Poland)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

Who said anything about talent?

Plot:

Starting from childhood attempts at illustration, the protagonist pursues his true obsession to art school. But as he learns how the art world really works, he finds that he must adapt his vision to the reality that confronts him.

Plot Keywords:

Love | Drawing | Suburb | Competition | New York City

Cast

Max Minghella	...	Jerome
Sophia Myles	...	Audrey
John Malkovich	...	Professor Sandiford
Jim Broadbent	...	Jimmy
Matt Keeslar	...	Jonah
Ethan Suplee	...	Vince
Joel Moore	...	Bardo (as Joel David Moore)
Nick Swardson	...	Matthew
Anjelica Huston	...	Art History Teacher
Adam Scott	...	Marvin Bushmiller
Jack Ong	...	Professor Okamura
Scoot McNairy	...	Army-Jacket
Jeremy Guskin	...	Eno
Monika Ramnath	...	Flower
Isaac Laskin	...	Kiss-Ass

MPAA:

Rated R for language including sexual references, nudity and a scene of violence.

Runtime:

USA:102 min | 102 min (Sundance Film Festival) | Argentina:102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Canada:14A (Ontario) | Singapore:M18 | Argentina:16 | USA:R (certificate #41649) | Australia:MA | Germany:12 | New Zealand:R16 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Communications Center, Los Angeles City College - 855 North Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

United Artists

Trivia:

The art college in the movie is based on the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. According the published screenplay, the minimalist paintings Jonah brings to class were painted by author Daniel Clowes when he was a student at the Pratt Institute.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Jerome is the bartender at the party, he twists the top off of the beer and gives it to Jonah. Hoegaarden does not come in twist off bottles.

Quotes:

Bardo: [holding up clay pipe] This is ready for the kiln.

Movie Connections:

References Butterscotch and Soda (1948)

Soundtrack:

Ray's Idea

Great cast, but not quite a good movie

We saw this dark comedy at Sundance (SLC showing). I wanted very much to give this a totally positive review, but it's just so disjointed that it was hard to decide what it was trying to say. The cast is terrific: John Malkovic, Anjelica Huston, Jim Broadbent, Sophie Myles, among others. There are a lot of things that are funny in this film, and we did laugh. But the storyline is all over the place. I read an interview with the director (who didn't come for Q & A after this one), and he said the storyline has a lot to do with his fear of New York, along with his fascination for it. The NYC shown in this film is very scary; I don't think I'd ever even want to visit it, much less want to live there! The film skewers a lot of snooty art types, and in that arena, it works. However, the second half of the movie just didn't quite work for me. The firsthalf of the film was amusing, but when it turned extremely dark in the final act, it just didn't feel right. It's too bad, because I think it's great fun to skewer the snooty art world...but this was just too far over the top.