FOLIO
At nearly 36 years old, writer/director TerryZwigoff made his first film, the well-received but barely seen documentary Louie Bluie (1985). It was nine years before his next film – another documentary, but one which got him widespread recognition, generating considerable controversy when it wasn’t nominated for an Oscar.
Crumb (1994) is about underground comic artist Robert Crumb and his dysfunctional family, a memorable portrait of a true original. It’s absolutely riveting, moving and funny at the same time. Since Crumb, Zwigoff has made only three films (the last in 2006), each with fictional anti-heroes in the spirit of Crumb, and each a comic gem.
Ghost World is a logical follow-up to Crumb. Co-written by Daniel Clowes, based on his graphic novel, it opens with the high school graduation of Enid (Thora Birch) and Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson), best friends who can’t wait to get away from most folks in town. Over the summer, they look for an apartment together yet gradually drift apart, Enid rooted in her love of nonconformity, Rebecca slowly drifting into the plastic mainstream.
Ghost World earned acclaim across the board – from indie circuit to Oscars (Best Screenplay nod) – for its dry humor, seductive satire and good performances. Sad sack character star Steve Buscemi gives one of his best as an older, lovable loser inextricably linked with Enid. There’s scene after scene of brilliantly understated comedy, as Zwigoff and Clowes skewer the dull humdrum of traditional mediocrity to which Enid refuses to submit.
A bittersweet absurdist ending shows her boarding an out-of-service bus to nowhere that she feels must be better than the somewhere she’s always known.
Before teaming with Clowes on Art School Confidential (’06), Zwigoff directed Billy Bob Thornton in Bad Santa (’04), easily the iconoclastic director’s most outrageous. (The Blu-ray has many riches for Zwigoff fans; three versions: theatrical, unrated, director’s cut. I prefer the third one, as does Zwigoff).
Thornton is Willie, a thoroughly disreputable store Santa who joins Marcus (Tony Cox), a dwarfish elf, each year to rip off the establishment of choice. Supporting characters include John Ritter (his last film) as a befuddled store manager, Bernie Mac as a crooked store dick, and Lauren Graham as a sweet, randy bartender with a thing for Santas.
About as politically insensitive, profane and irreverent as can be, Bad Santa is also laugh-out-loud hilarious. Willie’s another Zwigoff likable loser, despite his atrocious behavior. Because he’s so unredeemably “bad,” it’s a testament to the film’s ingenuity that he’s the “good” guy in the end.
Two years later, Zwigoff directed his last film (so far) with Clowes for Art School Confidential, considerably expanded from its original four-page black-and-white comic. Extrapolated from Clowes’ experiences at Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute, it’s about an idealistic, love-struck art student (Max Minghella) who’s involved with a serial killer.
More like Ghost World than Bad Santa, this last one didn’t earn as much acclaim as its predecessor, probably because of its more diffuse plot and less-focused characterization. It’s still a comic gem, with good supporting performances by John Malkovich, Anjelica Huston and Jim Broadbent.
Though he’s been actively courted by traditional Hollywood studios, Zwigoff has steadfastly stayed his own man, refusing all ventures as he continues, like Enid in Ghost World, to try to find his sphere. A 2013 report tied him to one project with Fred Armisen, and one with Nicolas Cage.
We’re still waiting and hoping.
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