Magic Marmalade 17th Jun 2023
| | Rated 8/10Too cool for school...
...And most definitely too cool for you... as well as just about everybody else in the world.
This quirky oddment of a movie, was, as I vaguely recall, part of a spate (I may be overstating the case) of adaptations of graphic novels / comics of the more everyday / unusual variety that occurred about this time...
(I think, Napoleon Dynamite, and perhaps that roller skating thing with (now) Elliot Page (might have been one?) among others)
It is a basic portrait of the kind of teen girl you may well have encountered, or may well know, for whom the whole world is just lame, and pathetic, as is everyone in it, and largely exists to be mocked and regarded as some kind of freak show wildlife documentary, simply there for her amusement, and to be the objects of her disdain.
...Such is Enid, who, along with her friend and observational ally Rebecca in this walk through laboratory / human zoo of life, is about to graduate from school and step into the adult world (also, indeed, especially lame), and move into an apartment together, and get their big plans in motion.
Everyone around them seems to be just drifting, like ghosts, going nowhere in particular, and doing nothing of any importance, in this nowhere town, unlike them, who have it all weighed off nicely.
...Which, of course, consistent with life's delightful way, is proven to them, well, in particular, Enid, they most certainly do not.
Enid faces changes at home, with her single father dating someone new (very threatening). Rebecca seeems to be taking the step a little more seriously than Enid - having a job etc. and so seems to be beginning to drift away from Enid a little, as well as a superflake art teacher (Veronica Cartwright giving one of her career best performances in deadpan comedic genius mode) getting her into trouble due to a picture she cynically entered into an exhibition and which she lifted form new found acquaintance / friend Seymour.
Seymour being a particular object of amusement that Enid decides to mess about with one day, being, as he is, a super - geek, as well as a collector of rare and valuable blues 78s (So particular interest for users of this site! :)...
...But as life seems to be getting away from her, and friends and people drift away, Seymour unconsciously becomes her only remaining friend... over time, and quite against her original intentions, a real friend.
Enid may not be so very cool, and aloof after all, as she discovers she may be the only real ghost in her world, lonely, and dislocated, while everyone else is getting on with living life.
This movie has that indie vibe, very much in the Clerks (with a budget) style, as we follow these two girls (primarily Enid) as they drift around town, chatting, and going nowhere in particular.
One or two things may not make the cut for the modern cancel crowd, or at the very least, raise an eyebrow, which in itself is shocking, given how relatively recently this movie was made, but if you go a little deeper in it's intentions, it's humour and sensibility, beyond the superficial, and see how these things serve the story, and plot, you find a very sharply written, minor cult classic wihch is a great watch.
Could also be re-titled:
The Disabuse-ment of Certain Erroneous Notions Of Life As Held By Enid, The Girl Who (Thought She) Was Better Than Everyone Else.
(But that's quite a mouthful, so Ghost World, will do :)
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