Ghost World

On the Sundance Channel recently I saw this 2001 movie starring Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson, and Steve Buscemi. The movie was not a commercial success at the time of it's release but as Johansson has become one of the biggest stars in the world the movie has found an audience of film buffs.

The two actresses play Enid and Rebecca two girls graduating from high school. Both outsiders to the cool kids they have no plans for college but do have a long held dream of moving in together in their own apartment. In opening her diploma Enid finds out that she must take an art course over the summer to graduate, while not happy, how hard can an art class be.

Being cynical, biting teenage girls they in spotting a personal ad from a lonely man decide to place a response to the advertisement. Their goal is not nice, they wish to make fun of the man. Placing themselves at a table at the meeting place they watch the man wait for two hours and then leave. At this point these girls are not likable and their decision to follow him home is even worse. Still as Enid, played by Birch, leads the posse she appears to be having an inner conflict.

After all these girls are outsiders too and on some level Enid feels a connection to this middle aged man. Eventually Enid makes contact with the man, named Seymour, at a weekly used record auction he attends. A strange friendship develops. At the same time Rebecca, played by Johansson is not as enamored of Seymour and is looking forward to Enid getting a job so that the girls can move forward in their plan to get an apartment.

Life is a challenge for Enid. She struggles in the art class until she makes a found object project using something of Seymour's. The project is received with great enthrallment by the art teacher and she offers Enid a scholarship to an art college. At the same time Enid struggles to find a job. It seems as if her biting sarcasm, and her apparent inability to control it, makes her not a great candidate to work with the public.

Eventually Enid helps Seymour find a date. Her feelings of jealousy rise however when as a surprise to everyone the date turns out well and he starts spending time with his new friend. The new friend is naturally curious about why Seymour is such good friends with an odd girl just out of high school, half his age and attempts to discourage the relationship.

This is not a great movie. It is an odd movie with moments that illustrate the incredible loneliness so many of us feel. Buscemi is wonderful as Seymour, a man who accepts that he is a loser but is really no more and no less than more people than we all care to think about. Johannsen must have been in her late teens in this movie but even in a role that is not as defined in the film she stands out. Her voice, husky, her face plain and devoid of the model looks we see in today's version, there is still something captivating in her. I would never have picked her out as a future star from this performance but I would have remembered her for reasons that do not seem clear, she just stands out in an odd way, in a role not designed for her to do so.

In the end all of these people face indecision and bad decisions. A happy ending does not make itself readily apparent in this movie, still the ending seems fitting and one can hold out hope for our new friends. An interesting movie.

Boardwalk Empire Season One

A few years ago, before I got sick, some friends of mine at work and I would have lunch each day. One of the subjects that would often come up, especially on Mondays, would be rehash of whatever show we might be watching. Sunday nights being the night for Mad Men, and earlier The Sopranos, there was often much to talk about.

In the interim since becoming sick, I have missed those daily conversations. Recently my wife and I finished Season One of Boardwalk Empire and it is safe to say that were we all still working and having lunch together this show would top our Monday lunchtime conversations.

It is quite frequent that when watching a great new show we think it might be the best thing we have seen. Certainly for those of us that watch a few of the Cable Series that have become such an omnipresent part of television our first love will always be The Sopranos. I myself have become a little more discerning, recently rebuffing The Wire, never embracing True Blood, ditching HBO for the summer to the chagrin of The Newsroom but we have embraced Game of Thrones, and now might be ready to call Boardwalk Empire the best of the lot.

As a history buff there is a lot to love in this show. Historical figures met in season one include Al Capone, Meyer Lansky, Lucky Luciano, and at least on the outskirts of the plot, Presidential candidate Warren G Harding. His young mistress and baby's mother has a much more prominent role. The show belongs however to Steve Buscemi. Buscemi has had some memorable rolls, from being shot by his Cousin Tony on the porch of the hideout in The Sopranos, to the classic movie Fargo but in Boardwalk Empire he has landed his role.

Buscemi's Nucky Thompson runs Atlantic City in 1920 just as prohibition becomes law. There are too many great performances in this show to mention. For me perhaps one of the most unique characters is a relatively small role played Jack Huston as Richard Harrow. Harrow is a badly disfigured World War One Veteran, half his face and an eye are gone, this is covered up by a set of glasses that feature a fake eye as well as a piece of skin that sets over the hole. He was a marksman and soon finds a home on the payroll.

As the season progresses Nucky finds himself squeezed by New York and then by the rising chance of " his mayor" and his sheriff ( his brother) might be ousted by reform minded Democrats.

The plots are multi faceted as well. The show is shot beautifully, feels authentic, and the cast is superb.

As Season One ends we see that the betrayals to Nucky and the threats to his power base are just beginning. Season Two is set to be available on Netflix on August 28 and we are anxiously awaiting it's arrival in hopes of finishing Season Two before we shut of Netflix during the school year.

If you have not seen this show you are missing the best show on television. It is time to catch up.

Boardwalk Empire

Even though it has been on for two seasons now on HBO we have just started watching Boardwalk Empire in our house. This is another show destined to be a classic for the folks from HBO.

Starring Steve Buscemi show opens with the passing of Prohobition. Buscemi plays Nucky Thompson the treasurer of Atlantic City. Nucky also is a mobster, who runs the town and gets a piece of every action that takes place in the town.

Buscemi may be the most noticable actor you will find. His face, seemingly elastic, shows expression like your dog shows expression, easily and often. This series when it was first released was of course compared to HBO's other mob series The Sopranos. Buscemi of course had a role in The Sopranos, until at least he met his maker at the hand of his Cousin Tony.

Boardwalk Empire is different however. Set at the beginning of Prohibition there is an element of history in this show. We have sets that reflect the time, characters, clothes and the whole world of 1920.

As Nucky Thompson Buscemi is a fantastic character. A gangster very willing to have someone taken out, he also has a tender spot for women in distress. He is a study in contradictions. When his protege left college to enroll in the Army during World War I he was bothered, when he returns and then runs an operation that endangers one of he is very upset. As the feds close in on the shooting that took place and Nucky has to kick him out of town Nucky's brother who happens to be the Sheriff tells him if it had been him he would not have been given the latitude Jimmy received. Nucky silently assents to the truth of this statement.

This show sparkles and shines. Having watched just three episodes I am sure I am in for many new twists and turns but one thing I have no doubt is that this show will be among the best on television as long as it is on. This show is to be rated five stars. Buscemi, second and third fiddle no more, easily proves he can carry the weight of stardom on his elastic man features.

Fargo

Fargo is a 1996 movie from the Coen brothers. Considered a dark comedy it is one of the more influential movies of the nineties. Featuring a very strong cast including Best Actess Winner Frances McDermond, Steve Buscemi and William H Macy the movie as well as being well reviewed has been a cult classic with a very devoted fan base.

The story centers around Jerry Lundegaard as a Minneapolis car salesman, actually executive sales manager as he likes to say at a dealership owned by his father in law. Jerry is deeply in debt and as the movie begins he has hired two hit men to kidnap his wife. He does not wish her harm, he merely hopes to get his very wealthy father in law to pay a ransom. To be further ahead in the game he has told his hired hands that he will pay them 40,000, while advising his father in law that the ransom that has been asked for is one million dollars.

Of course nothing goes as planned. William H Macy is wonderful in his role as the hapless salesman mixing his deceptiveness with " Minnesota Nice."

The hit men kidnap Mrs. Lundegaard but on the road are pulled over for a license plate issue. In the end they shoot the police officer. Carl, played by Steve Buscemi is dragging the body off the road when a car with two teenagers goes by. His accomplice Gaaer chases them down and when they in fleeing goes off the road shoots them both.

The crime scene is investigated by Brainerd Chief of Police Marge Gunderson. In the role that won McDermond the Oscar Marge is seven months pregnant and a very good detective. Quickly ascertaining the timeline she then backtracks and is quickly on the trail.

Harve Presnell plays Wade, Jerry's father in law and is strong in the role. Buscemi, does he ever come to a good end in his movies has a memorable moment with a wood chipper and in the end Marge lectures Gaear about why would anyone make the choice he has made when after all.....it is a bueatiful day.

A very interesting movie. Not a classic but for any of us who have experienced the North Dakota, Minnesota personality a welcome reminder of this personality climate.