Review: Art School Confidential

What begins as a delightful coming of age story turns into a smarmy pit of unfulfilled dreams and artificiality. The film, Art School Confidential, is neither a good movie, nor a bad one. It is something else. Something ironic and therefore, in its own twisted logic, failed. The director, Terry Twigoff, has in the past directed some really great stuff. His best work so far has to be the humorous and very honest film Ghost World. This film does not live up to that high standard. However, you can’t help but admire its boldness, its attempt at honesty and its ultimate statement about not only the art world, but also the artificiality of the world at large.

Jerome, played sufficiently by unknown Max Minghella, is the art nerd. The kid who got beat up on the playground for being too arty. The poor child who you can’t help but cheer for in a movie that starts like almost all coming of age stories do, with annoying conversations about losing your virginity. However, unlike lesser films that spend their time focused solely on this question, Art School Confidential is something way more interesting. However it’s impossible to say what that is. Jerome wants to be a great artist. He says this often and with great vigor. We believe him. His fellow freshman make works of art that any five year old could make, while he draws a picture of the beautiful girl with great realism. This girl is of course the object of his affection. Her name is Audrey (Sophia Myles), played like almost all desired women of cinema, as sweet but unaware. A feminist reading of her character would yield quite negative results. Also there is the best friend, the gay roommate, the boorish film major, the jaded art professor and so on and so forth. Oh and I should mention, but only in passing as most the film isn’t so much about it, there is a serial killer.

So the film opens as glorious roasting of all these clichés. Its self awareness is extremely funny, but very sharp around the edges. It is incredibly honest in its depiction of the young artist trying to find a voice in a crowded room of derivative other voices. Slowly the film deteriorates as our hero falls deeper in love with the girl, Audrey, and becomes more intent on a becoming a great artist. Jerome forgets somewhere, like all the walking clichés around him, that instead of wanting to make great art, he instead wants to be a great artist. In the slimy, grimy world of art he begins to realize that it’s not so about the quality of work, but the gimmick behind it. Let me tell you friends, his gimmick is classic. I want to say more than on that, but I will say just say in a film where I always knew what was going to happen, I still loved the ending. I read a few reviews that said it was too dark. To me, its not some tragedy, it’s just really honestly funny.

So where is this failure I mentioned early? If we are to take the film as its own piece of art, then we must follow the logic of the film in its criticisms of art. And, to say it more simply, the film is everything the film hates. It is pretentious, it is cliché, it is showy and ultimately in the end, it’s really just too self-aware, too empty, too annoying.

I would say the film is worth a watch. It makes a great conversation starter and does have some really great moments for anyone who’s worked or studied art in great detail. It won’t change your life or make you cry, but one day when one of your friends makes some lame, shallow comment on art, you can roll you eyes a bit to yourself and know your not alone.