Art School Confidential

I found myself staring into a twisted metallic nightmare that was being displayed as art at a huge annual festival in Miami Beach this past weekend. I imagine its creator wanted to evoke feelings of dread, disturbance, possibly even nausea. It pretty much did. I wondered if the result was true to his/her vision. I also saw two very unique replicas of human heads, both only about an inch wide, but several inches long and high. The profiles looked scarily real, but when you walked around to see the faces, the canthal distance almost non-existent, it was truly disturbing. The heads drew hordes of the curious; more people hovered around them than that of some of the other collections, including a deluxe showcase for Dennis Hopper's fever dreams. Was it the gimmick that ignited word of mouth? Was it a gimmick at all? One man's gimmick is another man's mantlepiece. 

My guess is that the artist responsible for the heads wasn't necessarily trying to capture mass attention, he just felt compelled to create art that compelled him. In fact, I think all the best ones do this:create for yourself, rather than trying to ride the coattails of the flavor of the moment, the pop phenom du jour. Such honesty abided, your audience will follow. It's too bad that Jerome (Max Minghella) doesn't subscribe to this point of view. His obvious talent could really give birth to something extraordinary, if only he wasn't trying to mimic every famous deceased wunderkind before him. Or even the other geniuses whose work can fetch thousands or millions even if they just sneeze on some canvas. Additionally, under the proper tuteledge, he could find some much needed reference points, maybe even some clear directive that can make the flower bloom. 

Instead, he has Professor Sandiford (John Malkovich), a rather disorganized fellow himself, prone to aloofness and ambiguous advice. He oversees classes, instructing his budding Rembrandts to paint themselves, a few nudes, but he might as well be elsewhere as he curses into his cell phone in vain attempts to get his own work public. There is also Jimmy (Jim Broadbent), a local former prodigy now slumped over in alarming squalor, a bottle rolling by his feet every time Jerome visits him in his disgrace of an apartment. Jimmy was once a bright light, maybe even a next big thing. All he offers now is corrosive commentary on what the pursuit of the artistic life brought him. 

Director Terry Zwigoff's 2006 ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL, another adaptation of a Daniel Clowes graphic novel (following GHOST WORLD), seems to be an indictment of the art world and those who seek its rewards. For these characters, the process is not enough. Jerome has badly romanticized some idea of the artist's life, picturing himself a Picasso or Dali. He wants the charmed ivory tower existence badly, and will sell his own talent out at any time to achieve that. The irony in this film is that Jerome is very gifted, but surrounded by hacks who get all the attention. One is Jonah (Matt Keeslar), a fellow student who perpetuates the nightmare Jerome had in high school-losing all the girls to the all-American jock/stud. Even in the heady world of art school, filled with discriminating (yet still beautiful) females, the alpha male takes all the marbles. Not only will the ladies fawn, but other students and even profs will heap praise on the golden boy. Jonah also does not suffer from the same mentalities so many artists (and aficionados) do; his lack of pretention allows him to create his popular masterwork: a painting of a pick-up truck. It is a smash on campus, constantly, favorably interpreted for its simplistic brilliance. 

The value of subjectivity gets a real work-out in this film. When first revealed, this painting brought uncontrolled guffaws of laughter from me. The fact that Jonah is celebrated of course speaks volumes about how as a society (macrocosmic or otherwise), we applaud and embrace the banal, the mediocre. But Zwigoff is equally swift in denigrating those who feel they were born with irrefutable taste and talent. One of Jerome's roommates, Vince, is a film student with his own case of artistic myopia. He accosts everyone for their lack of taste, yet is working on his own film that is so blindingly awful you almost feel Clowes and Zwigoff have gotten a bit carried away. Well, yes, they have. There is also a subplot (entirely unnecessary) about a serial killer on campus. Opportunities for satire may have existed with this thread, but they're not utilized. All this storyline does is add minutes to the running time. ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL does not really succeed as a choice jab at the art world, so open and easy a target. There are very effective moments here and there, some insights on the trivialities of the art world and the absurdity of playing tastemaker. The finale makes a sad but true summation of what it takes to make it in pop culture, though perhaps the way this statement and some of the plot strands come together is a bit weak and clumsy. 

The filmmakers' previous effort, GHOST WORLD, instead was a successful examination of those who are trapped in their self-created bitter worlds of scorn, unable to appreciate something that moves them, rather just sneering at everyone else for not liking something. Some of the characters in that film were unwilling and/or unable to move on with their lives and instead of creating, they merely tear down. In the end, though, there is some recognition, self-awareness. ART SCHOOL characters are not, ahem, drawn as vividly or with a much apparent thought. They are really no deeper than Saturday Night Live caricatures.

Perhaps that was the idea this time. Jerome and others are so immersed in their pursuit of illusions they can't (or won't) take time for some perspective on themselves. They are defined by their desire for some modicum of fame, and usually end up being also-rans AND clueless about the masterworks they so emulate. I was also reminded by this movie of a creative writing course I took in college my sophomore year. Each week, we were required to produce a piece of fiction that would be critiqued by 5 or 6 classmates. I composed some serious things that semester, the subjects of which ranged from the disintegration of familial relationships to alcoholism to death. Which assignment got the highest grade? Which was the best received by my peers? A silly missive I wrote in all of half an hour, the one where I documented the time I slipped off a seawall and fell into the Intracoastal Waterway (true story; maybe I'll describe it to you sometime). It was a huge success, enough to actually be selected for the school literary mag! Sometimes you reach for grandeur, and you get a handful of air. Other times you create something you feel is inconsequential, and end up with an accidental sensation. 

For all of its failures, ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL understands this quite well. Nonetheless, the best thing about Zwigoff's cheerfully profane film, for me, are the laughs. That's what have stayed with me. Some of the funniest moments I have ever seen on film are here. There is mostly broad comedy, something the director apparently continued with BAD SANTA (haven't seen yet). If you decide to watch ART SCHOOL, tell me that these scenes are not comedy gold: 1. The unveiling of said pick-up truck painting 2. Jerome's first attempt at a date (girl with the stuffed animals) 3. Vince's first scene, in the dorm 4. Jerome's dinner back home with his family, and his parents' reaction when he states that he has a girlfriend. That last scene is such a perfect ballet of stage blocking,editing and acting, so utterly hilarious, that I think maybe Clowes and Zwigoff should've just tried to make an out and out straight comedy instead of a seriocomic damnation.