Art School Confidential
With Art School Confidential, ostentatious art superciliousness is mined for chuckles in a means that is so doctrinaire as to be tediously morose and exceptionally puerile. Not bad, eh? Terry Zwigoff, the director of the wonderfully weird documentary Crumb (1994) and the 2001 film Ghost World, hits art school in this 2006 comedy-drama-mystery-romance. Based on a comic book of the same name by Daniel Clowes, Art School Confidential is quick and witty in the first half, but quickly derails and takes everything with it for the last half of the film.
Art School Confidential stars Max Minghella as Jerome, a young man obsessed with the idea of becoming a great artist. He is very sure of himself and enrols in art school to capitalize on his talent. When he arrives, we are introduced to a myriad of art school stereotypes in what is the funniest segment of the film. Jerome’s roommates major in film and fashion and meet the stereotype perfectly. His classmates are troubled, intellectual, dark, dreamy, or generally artsy-fartsy. The segments in which the characters are introduced are brimming with biting satire.
Another notion the film gets right is the strange idea of art in the first place. “What is art? Is art art?” echo the words of Lisa Marie Turtle. Zwigoff and Clowes look at the idea that a bunch of triangles, squiggly lines, and crazed crayoning can serve as art, while art that looks like what it looks like is often viewed as pedestrian and boring. To further confuse things, along comes Jonah (Matt Keeslar) to complicate things with his basic paintings of cars, a tank, and some other normal stuff. He’s considered a genius early on by Professor Sandiford (John Malkovich). All of this swirling satire is quite humorous, especially for anyone who has ever questioned the value of art in the first place.
Had Art School Confidential remained in tune with the satire, it would have been a highly entertaining film. Naturally, the need to throw pointless curveballs into the process is apparent. The romantic angle is good enough, as a perplexing little love triangle emerges between Jerome, Jonah, and nude model Audrey (Sophia Myles). The competition between Jerome and Jonah would have been entertaining, as the two duel it out to impress Audrey with their art. Sadly, Zwigoff completely destroys his own art by involving a convoluted murder mystery plotline that eventually dominates the film. Gone are the satire, freshness, and humour of the film’s setup. Instead, we’re introduced to an idiotic plotline that ends with a main character living out his days in jail (hey, at least he gets to paint!) and as a famed artist.
Minghella doesn’t have much of a personality, which is good because his character doesn’t have much of one either. Perhaps that’s the point, though, as the colourful characters sort of orbit around Jerome like he’s a required part of their lunacy. Unfortunately, his blandness doesn’t bode well for the romantic subplot or the murderous main plotline. Minghella doesn’t have enough to carry the movie, which is what he ends up doing, and the project derails because of his lack of chemistry and likeability. He is a misanthrope, as are many of the other characters, and the cynicism isn’t interesting, funny, entertaining, or thought-provoking.
Despite the potential for fun in setting up the stereotypes, Zwigoff elects to not give us any time to digest and play with the types. Instead, his characters are set up and then released. When the murder mystery plotline runs rampant, the stereotypes and the humour that was supposed to be associated with them vanishes into the thin air as though the film never was a smart satire. What we’re left with is a bunch of hollow caricatures with nothing to do, making the last half of the film absolutely excruciating in its blandness and silliness. It almost seems like the filmmakers gave up on the laughs or else forget they actually had set up a comedy.
So the flaws in Art School Confidential lie in the film’s construction, lack of time given to its characters, and poor plotline. The direction is nothing special here, but there are some well-shot moments in the piece. Overall, this indie film is a disappointment that could have been a whole lot better but simply flunked out on its own lack of ambition. It’s a lazy film.
Trailer:
