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Starting from childhood attempts at illustration, the protagonist pursues his true obsession to art school. But as he learns how the art world really works, he finds that he must adapt his vision to the reality that confronts him.
I believe you can go to school to learn to be an accountant, a doctor, a physicist, an engineer, an astronaut. I am not sure you can learn to be an artist. Artists are born, not made, and the real reason to study the arts is to have fun, learn technical skills, network with other creative types, fall in love with people who are not boring, and do the work you probably would have done anyway. That said, I highly recommend college. I majored in English and journalism, and wanted to be a graduate student forever.
I am writing this the morning after my wife and I attended the Head to Toe gala at which students of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago presented their spring fashion show. We saw about half of the work presented a week earlier at the school's 2006 Fashion Show at Marshall Field's, which sounds ever so much more upscale than the 2007 Fashion Show at Macy's. I was astonished. The creativity and wit in their designs would have made Fellini envious. These were not items of clothing; these were visual arts. I could imagine the same models, wearing the same designs, walking up the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival and sending the designers of Paris weeping and gnashing into the shadows.
Then we learned the first third of the show, featuring white clothing, was all by freshmen. They didn't learn to create those fashions between September and now. Therefore, apparently, they always could design. I am not suggesting the school's faculty serves no purpose; indeed, as a teacher of film appreciation, I believe faculties in the arts are sainted. They must guide, advise, moderate, encourage, teach methods, provide a context, share secrets and declare an informed opinion on the worth of the work. They create a world within which such work is possible and valued. What they cannot do, I suspect, is teach a student how to be original and creative.
"Art School Confidential," the new comedy by Terry Zwigoff, seems to share these sentiments. It was written, like his "Ghost World," by the artist Daniel Clowes and based on one of Clowes' graphic novels. Zwigoff also made the great documentary "Crumb," about another artist who is entirely his own creation. The movie's hero is Jerome (Max Minghella), already an extraordinary draftsman when he enters the school; his drawings glow from the page with conviction and love. "I want to be the next Picasso," he claims, which indicates his vision is indeed inward and personal, since he does not know enough about Picasso to see that his work does not have a single line in common with that master. Perhaps he simply means he wants to be famous, make lots of money and grow old while making love to beautiful women. Honorable goals.
There is a moment in the film when the students are asked to create a self-portrait. Jerome's work bears comparison with the Pre-Raphaelites. The student whose self-portrait is most highly praised has created an assemblage of lines and squiggles that "looks like a Cy Twombly," someone says -- in praise. I'm not saying a 19th century representational style is superior to Twombly, but I do believe that in a freshman class, the purpose of a self-portrait assignment is to draw something that looks like it might be you. Students have to learn to walk before they can crawl.
Jerome's teacher is Professor Sandiford (John Malkovich), who paces the classroom talking on his cell phone, trying to get a gallery to give him a show. Sandiford draws triangles. "I was one of the first," he says, to paint triangles. In his mind, perhaps second only to Euclid. Malkovich's character issues dire warnings about the future awaiting any would-be artist, conceals rage about his own neglect, and in general provides the kind of forbidding detachment that drives students crazy trying to please him.
Jerome falls in love with the artists' model Audrey (Sophia Myles). She likes the drawing he does of her, as who would not, and is kind to him, and as a nerd in high school he is thrilled that his talent has at last brought him the affection of a beautiful girl. Jerome's roommates are Vince (Ethan Suplee) and Bardo (Joel David Moore), who like all roommates (in the words of John D. McDonald) deprive him of solitude without providing him with companionship. The Vince character is a wonderful creation, an unkempt underground filmmaker, making a work of enthusiasm and incoherence; much of his time is spent rearranging 3 x 5 cards describing hypothetical scenes. Bardo is helpful on practical stuff, explaining the politics of the Strathmore school of art and briefing Jerome on his fellow students.
There is a wise and understanding teacher on the faculty, played by Anjelica Huston. Defending the work of Dead White Males, she sensibly observes that when they did their best work "they weren't dead yet." Even more wisdom, and certainly more weariness, come when Jerome visits the squalid apartment of the drunken old artist Jimmy (Jim Broadbent), who might once have been young and might once have had hopes, but now festers in cynicism, anger, despair and the need for a drink. There is something in the Zwigoffian universe that values such characters; having abandoned all illusions, they offer the possibility of truth. I also much enjoyed Broadway Bob (Steve Buscemi); his cafe is a hangout for the students, who hope he will hang their work on his walls. Bob at this point is more important to them than the art critic of the New York Times.
Now I must regret to tell you the plot also involves a serial killer who is stalking the campus and has claimed several victims. The police investigate, the students become paranoid and some of the characters fall under suspicion. There is nothing particularly wrong with this subplot, except that it is completely unnecessary, and imposes a generic story structure on a film that might better have just grown from scene to scene like an experience. I wasn't interested in the killer and would have rather seen more of Jerome interacting with his professors, with Broadway Bob and old Jimmy, and with the beautiful Audrey, who will surely see that her future lies with the next Picasso, since she was born too late to lie with the previous one.
QueerBeacon
In Art School Confidential, Max Minghella is a young artist who wants to make it big in the art world, he goes to a prestigious art school in New York and learns that the art world is way tougher than he thought. Having talent is the least of his concerns -- he really has to learn how to "suck cock and lick ass" as a fellow artist, played by Jim Broadbent, explains.
To make things crazier, there's a serial killer on the loose.
The great cast also included hottie Matt Keeslar (who played a gay character inUrbania), John Malkovich, and Angelica Huston.
We had tons of gay content, peppered throughout the entire movie. Not all was positive though.
Here are some highlights from the gay content in the movie:
Early in the movie we see a butch girl with a backpack that carried an equal sign from the Human Rights Campaign, that was nice, even if she wasn't a lesbian.
Max Minghella has a roommate, played by Nick Swardson, who was obviously conflicted with his sexuality (you kinda get that from the trailer). He is quite effeminate and he goes out of his way to say he misses his girlfriend right off the bat.
Two street punks call Max and his classmate, played by Joel Moore, faggots. The punks say they make a cute couple in an offensive way, but Joel just shrugs and actually puts his arms around Max, not minding at all if he looks gay or not. Excellent.
When Max tells his parents about a girlfriend (played bySophia Myles) the parents hug each other in relief and happiness. This was supposed to be funny but it's just offensive. Max's sister even spells out to Max that the reason why their parents are hugging is because they are happy to know Max is "not a homo." I know that is probably the truth today and most parents would still be all happy and relieved to learn their kid is not gay, but that is sad. Dianne Keaton inThe Family Stone and Jack Thompson in The Sum of Us are just two great examples of how parents should behave with their gay kids.
Later on, we learn that Max's girlfriend (Sophia) had a lesbian affair with an artist. The artist run into the new couple and she is all angry and crazy, but that's not a big deal. Max acts naturally and don't even mention the fact (that his girlfriend had a lesbian affair). So, that was nice.
But when Sophia is alone, the artist tells her that she can crawl back to her when she is done with men, and kisses her on the lips. Sophia dismisses her former lesbian lover by rolling her eyes and we can see Sophia was sort of embarrassed by her, so that was not so hot.
Jim Broadbent plays a failed artist whose first advice to Max is to learn how to be good at cock sucking and ass licking. Initially you think that Jim is actually making a pass on Max, but that's not the case. Still, it was kind of a bad use of "cock sucking" and "ass licking" I thought.
I got major gay vibes from John Malkovich's character, but I'm not going there...
Oh, and there's a scene in which a male model poses for an art class. The model is fugly but he is quite an exhibitionist -- and we see his sizable tool clearly and for quite a long screen time.
I will discuss two other incidents, one positive and one negative but they will spoil a bit of the movie. Read on or go see Art School Confidential. [SPOILER AHEAD]
Full Movie on FFilms
And Twomovie
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