See original here.
Here's your first cinematographic review and I took the opportunity to start things big by also making this our first graphic novel review, all in this one article. You might've guessed already, but this review will be about a movie based on a graphic novel. You immediately think of 300, V for Vendetta or maybe even Spider-Man (slightly more a comic book than a graphic novel), but nope, I decided to take you by surprise with something that was also a great surprise for myself when I stumbled on it while it was playing on an American cable network. I present to you Ghost World.
Graphic novel, 80 pages long, written by Daniel Clowes, or feature film from 2001 directed by Terry Zwigoff, Ghost World presents the regular life of two young teens who don't fit the norm, best friends Enid and Rebecca, having just completed their high school studies, with no plans for the future or what to do with their life. This is exactly the charm of Ghost World. The characters of Enid and Rebecca are so endearing, even surprising with their open minds, but always negative about every situation and topic. Full of rich uncensored text, funny and thoughtful, you'll never anticipate what's going to come out of our protagonists' mouths. An excellent comparison could be made with the character named Juno in a movie of the same name written by Diablo Cody.
Performed by Thora Birch (All I Want for Christmas, Alaska, American Beauty) and Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation, Girl with a Pearl Earring, Scoop), in the first minutes of the movie you will feel some bond between the actress to an extent where you'll forget the story behind it to focus more on these two young ladies and what they're gonna do next. Indeed, Thora Birch was nominated for a Golden Globe as best actress and you have no need to know that to suspect such a thing. But, Scarlett Johansson's performance leaves something to be desired, but only and I really mean that, if we compare her to the character in the graphic novel. It would be sad to leave out Steve Buscemi's magnificent performance, his character just sadly happens to be absent from the graphic novel.
About the graphic novel, it features a particular style composed of one color (turquoise) completed by shades of gray. Unorthodox style, very relaxing for the eye and as entertaining as the classic black and white or even completely colored, I'm certain that you'll like the refreshing style while reading. The drawing style is feminine, a little bit like the good old Archie, but with a higher level of precision on some details, mainly light effects.
Finally, unlike most movies adapted from graphic novels, most of them being best viewed after reading the original material, in this precise case I suggest doing the opposite, which is to watch the movie first. The reason is simple, the graphic novel is a series of 8 short stories having nothing to do with each other except for the characters and places visited previously, no real main story. On the other hand, the movie is a practically perfect adaptation of the graphic novel presenting a full story inspired by most of the events of the book, even adding scenes here and there. No matter what choice you make, don't worry and just appreciate this artistic combination.
No comments:
Post a Comment
A compliment is always appreciated. If you have information or comments to state or any other type of feedback, try to be constructive, but no comments are erased, including negative or anonymous.