Bad Santa

Title: Bad Santa

Director: Terry Zwigoff

Released: 2003

Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Tony Cox, Brett Kelly, Lauren Graham, Lauren Tom, Bernie Mac, John Ritter

Plot: Conman and safecracker Willie (Thornton) and his dwarf partner Marcus (Cox) seemingly have the perfect con. Posing as a shopping mall Santa the pair case each mall in preparation of Christmas Eve when they rob the stores within. However their plans threaten to come undone when Willie’s numerous vices look set to consume him.

Review: Probably the best known of Zwigoff’s back catalogue no doubt that’s to the controversy which is always surrounds painting Santa in anything but the traditional light and Thronton’s performance as the titular Bad Santa is certainly no exception. Here he gives us a truely morally devoid character who cheats, steals and spends most his time blind drunk, which really is kind of for starters as he constantly seems to find new lows to sink to.

Needless to say Zwigoff here is hardly giving us a film full of Christmas cheer or well much of any kind of cheer to be honest as this is a black comedy in only the darkest shades as here he unleashes a side which even the established fans weren’t expecting as was certainly the case for myself who was left kind of shell shocked by what I had just watched which honestly doesn’t seem to lessen even with repeated viewings, as Zwigoff positively refuses to lighten up the character of Willie and instead plunges him only into lower and often frequently more deprived depths.

Still things are not all doom and gloom as we do get the great scenes of Willie going through the

motions under his Santa guise, sarcastically responding to the lists wheeled off my the children who come to visit him completely unaware of his real intentions, much less his blatant lack of interest in anything they are saying and generally giving foul mouthed and sarcastic responses when he does. True the film could have worked without the hidden criminal intensions and instead just focused on Willie doing the job as bad as he does.

While his actions might question even the most hardened believer it seemingly doesn’t deter Thurman, an overweight kid aswell as hardly the shiniest pebble in the pile judging by his firm belief that Willie is in fact the real Santa. It’s a situation that of course Willie is more than happy to take advantage of as he sets up home in Thurman’s house where he’s lives with his senile grandmother who spends most of the film in a seemingly catatonic state. At the same time he also brings with him his girlfriend of sorts Sue (a highly underrated Lauren Graham) who has her own unique love of Santa. Of course the relationship between Thurman and Willie frequently provides many of the film’s most cringe worthy moments as Thurman makes constant offers of sandwiches while at the same time never showing the slightest hint of emotion to any of Willie’s foul outbursts he unleashes on him, while Thurman’s clear lack of any kind of contact or social interaction makes kind of sad to watch him being treated in such a way, especially when Willie is essentially supposed to be the guy we are supposed to be wanting to pull himself out of his self-destructive slump. However when faced with Willie stealing the chocolate from Thurman’s advent calendar after a particular heavy binge session it’s hard to not despair slightly, especially when it seems that Zwigoff is doing everything possible it seems to challenge the audiences love for this character.

Perhaps it’s only because the other characters in the film are as equally corrupt that we can view Willie as the lesser of the numerous evils on show here, with Marcus clearly only using Willie for his safecracking skills let alone the fact that he holds a certain amount of control over him being his only source of income despite his initial promises to go straight after the heist they pull at the start of the film, only for Willie as Marcus predicts to drink it away by the following Christmas leaving him back in the same position he was before. At the same time the duo now also have to deal with the attentions of security boss Gin (Mac) who despite initially following up on the suspicions of the prudish mall manager Bob (Ritter) soon sees an opportunity to get in on the score as he launches his campaign of blackmail against them.

Unquestionably this is Thornton’s movie who steals every scene he’s in which isn’t too hard when he’s either unleashing some foul mouth tirade (over 300 curse words to be exact while the director’s cut adds an additional 286!) or generally just fowling himself. How much of this was method though remains to be seen, especially when Thornton openly admits to spending most of filming actually drunk. Still considering Bill Murray and Jack Nicolson were also in the running for the role, only to drop out due to commitments to over roles, but now to imagine anyone else in the role. Frustratingly the rest of the cast are more hit and miss with John Ritter in what would sadly be his final performance coming off more awkward thanks to some horrible dialogue seemingly written to highlight his neurotic nature, only for it to frequently prove to be a source of irritation, while Bernie Mac is as funny as you generally find him as he wheels out his usual comedy style.

Honestly though even as a big fan of Zwigoff’s work I found this one hard going, mainly because of how dark a comedy it is and more so when Zwigoff is so unrelenting in how far he takes the film to such dark places that it would make even Todd Solondz question if he’d taken it too far. At the same time when this film works it really does and it’s a shame that the few outstanding moments are so drowned out by the darker ones. As such I would recommend watching it with at least something lighter on standby as chances are you’re going to need it by the end of this one.

Elwood's Essentials #8: Ghost World

Title: Ghost World

Director: Terry Zwigoff

Released: 2001

Starring: Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi
 

Plot: Life long friends and recent High school graduates Enid (Birch) and Rebecca (Johansson) embrace their place as social outcasts and care little for what anyone else thinks about them as they rain down scorn and sarcasm on their peers. However after finding a personal ad placed by the lonely Seymour (Buscemi), their prank call leads Enid to find a kindred spirit in Seymour, as the two start to build an unlikely friendship. Meanwhile Enid finds her own relationship with Rebecca deteriorating as she fights to keep things around her from changing.

Review:  It’s time for me to once again revisit another of my all time favourite films. Always a daunting prospect to say the least and mainly because I'm of the mindset that once I review a film that I'm essentially done with it and to write about one of my favourite films means the prospect of never getting to have the pleasure of writing about it again. Still after a recent conversation about films with one my work colleague revealed the horrible truth that there still folks out there who have not seen this film that I knew I had to try and readdress the balance.

 

Based on the cult graphic novel by Daniel Clowes. The story first appeared in Clowes’s now defunct comic book series “Eightball” before later being republished in its more recognised trade paperback format. Clowes would also write the screenplay for the this film alongside director Terry Zwigoff in his first film in seven years, since directing the insightful documentary “Crumb” about another cult comic artist Roger Crumb, so it seemed almost perfect that Zwigoff would choose the work of another cult comic artist for his return to film making.

Needless to say the assorted colourful characters of “Ghost World” are almost too perfect for Zwigoff, who has made a career out his obsession with misfits, antiheroes and alienation. All themes which he gleefully gets to explore here, especially when these themes are equally popular with Clowes own work making this collaboration the perfect partnership, while Clowes is certainly not afraid to adapt his popular graphic novel, for anyone who has read it will tell you that it is nothing like the film version, outside of perhaps a handful of scenes and its familiar characters. Still the more obsessive fans of Clowes work will no doubt recognise the references to his other comics he has included throughout.

What remains the same though is the bond which Enid and Rebecca share, which is one not so much of close friends, but in fact much closer to a sisterly relationship. A relationship which has been perfectly captured by Birch and Johansson, who truly embody these characters with Birch in particular giving another memorable performance which (her meddling father's career interference aside) only makes you question why she has not been picked up for more mainstream projects rather than working almost exclusively on indie films as she currently is? Johansson on the other hand as we all know would explode into mainstream movies shortly after the release of this film, even though she regularly fails to muster half the laid back talent she showcases so proudly here and later in the equally wonderful “Lost In Translation”

On equally good form is Buscemi, who once again brings his oddball charm to the character of the lovable loser Seymour, a character which Clowes reportedly based in part on director Zwigoff, who in turn had insisted that the character was expanded way beyond his appearance in the original graphic novel, were he shown solely as the victim of the prank call. The similarities between Zwigoff and Seymour only continue through out the film with Seymour’s obsession with 1920’s Blues and Jazz records mirroring Zwigoff’s own obsessions, something which was the focus of his debut film "Louie Bluie". This expansion of his character works only more in the films favour, especially with the graphic novel seemingly being a series of events randomly strung together, while this change instead gives the film a much more structured format and in turn makes the story all the stronger when viewed in this format, for what works as a graphic novel it’s safe to say would not have worked here.

Still the relationship between Enid and Seymour is a fascinating one to watch, as the urge to instantly pair them together is fiercely resisted, with Enid seemingly doing anything she can to help Seymour break out his cocoon of old records and classic nostalgia he has crafted for himself and even when they do get together it is only as a meaningless drunken one night stand, which serves more a catalyst for Enid’s own changing self than it does for their relationship. This however is just one of the numerous risks that the film takes, as it fights against the usual storytelling conventions and somehow never puts a foot wrong.

Though the name “Ghost World” has by Clowes own admittance nothing to do with the story and more to do with the fact that he felt it would be funny to have a bunch of places named after this like Ghost World Elementary. Still Zwigoff has seemingly taken this title in another direction, as he shoots the film almost as if being viewed from a ghosts view point, especially as the camera opens gliding past the windows of Enid’s apartment block, glancing momentarily at each of the various occupants as if choosing who to follow before finally setting in Enid in the throws of her imitation of the dance routine from the bollywood mystery movie “Gumnaam”. Such shooting style continues throughout, with Zwigoff shooting from the position of the onlooker than sat with the characters, while other examples include the extended shot of a video store clerk absentmindedly picking his ear with his pen. Still even though we follow Enid and Rebecca through this journey the audience is still very much left with the feeling of just being ghosts in their world, especially with the films ending seeming so ambiguous on the first viewing.

Unquestionably a hard film to define and in many ways only makes it more like both "Welcome to the Dollhouse" and "Daria" which combine forms an unofficial timeline for Enid, with Dollhouse's Dawn representing Enid in seventh grade, "Daria" her high school years with "Ghost World" representing graduation. I guess all we need now is a film which shows an Enid style character in her wilderness years to further the chain, a film we continue to hold out for.

This is a film which is hard to sell, but easy to fall in love with once viewed, while finally being the high school movie, which will no doubt ring all so true to its fellow misfits and anyone whose felt themselves an outcast.