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:

Drawing | Strangler | New York City | Art School | Dinner Scene

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 Building, Los Angeles City College, 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:

Continuity: When Jerome visits Professor Sandiford, Sandiford is smoking a cigarette that disappears and reappears between shots.

Quotes:

Professor Sandiford: Now Eno, why haven't you been doing the assignments?
Eno: Frankly, I find them constricting and largely irrelevant. My work has nothing to with form or light or color, but with questioning the nature of aesthetic experience.
Professor Sandiford: I'll buy that.

Movie Connections:

Features "The Facts of Life" (1979)

Soundtrack:

Stacy's Mom

Great film- fun, exciting, fascinating, and keeps you pleasantly off balance

First off, let me just say how much I love Max Minghella. I saw Bee Season at a film festival a while back and straight off knew he was going to do fantastic things with his career. So far he's proved me right.

I have been anticipating Art School Confidential for a long time. I found out about it through the IMDb, and as a big fan of Zwigoff's previous work, I was really looking forward to seeing what he was going to do with the fabulous cast he had assembled (Malkovich, Huston, Buscemi, etc). The movie did not disappoint.

The beginning of the film is about what I expected- cute, off-beat story about a talented geek who goes to art school and pursues the girl of his dreams. And then it got dark. And then it got very dark. And then it got extremely dark. I soon realized I had no idea where it was going to take me next, and that excited me. The 'mystery' aspect of the movie is brilliantly done as well- it keeps you just well informed enough that you have about a 50/50 chance of figuring it out preemptively, and you'll always realize what's going on just when you need to.

I have read reviews that called Art School Confidential misanthropic, among other things. I disagree. It has misanthropic aspects, misanthropic characters, but overall I found that it ended on an expressly positive note. I absolutely loved the ending. Five minutes before it ended, I wasn't sure how it was going to end, and that, in my opinion, is the best way to do it. Zwigoff's direction is also very impressive. There's a distinct difference in the atmosphere throughout- it starts out looking and feeling sunnier and lighter, and as Minghella's character becomes darker, so does the look of the movie. Just one of those little things that adds to the overall experience.

Art School Confidential thoroughly covers ground that Ghost World touched on briefly- namely, the line between art and BS. It is clearly a subject on which Terry Zwigoff has a lot to say, and he says it very eloquently. The cast is great, the music is great, the direction is great. Go see it. And let me say again... I love Max Minghella. Here's hoping he doesn't turn to stupid teen flicks to pay the bills.