Got any Betty and Veronicas?
Continuing my trip up The Guardian's top 50 films of 2022
#11 : Funny Pages
Deliciously dark coming-of-age comedy from Owen Kline, that fuses teen innocence with adult sexuality in a bad-taste debut film that recalls American Splendor and Crumb.
I've seen both American Splendor and Crumb and found them well done but decidedly odd - I'm not sure a film that recalls them both is going to be all that enjoyable, but let's see shall we.
Hmmm. The film basically follows Robert (Daniel Zolghadri) a keen graphic artist who drops out of school following the death of his art-teacher mentor and attempts to find his way in the world, maybe with a view to working in comics - but without really having a plan as to how to do so. He doesn't half meet some strange characters in the process though. And most of them are not exactly likeable oddballs and in that way do they feel characters out of American Splendor or Crumb. It also has a very strange film style with a lot of big heads in close-up which I also guess is aimed at being reminiscent of comics, but it just feels odd.
I'd have to say that as well as Robert not really having a plan for his future, whilst watching this film I wasn't convinced the director did either - it meanders from bizarre episode to bizarre episode including a naked man standing on a desk, throwing a rubber horse at a pharmacist, someone getting stabbed in the head with a pen and a car driving through a garage door (and don't worry, these don't spoil anything for you). And after all this it ends in a bizarre, understated manner where it looks like Robert is just considering all that's happened to him - I suspect the impression we're supposed to get is that this is all fuel for the artistic fire, but I'd have to say I'm not 100% certain.
As far as I can tell Daniel does a good job as Robert - the whole performance is a bit ramshackle but you can't help but think that's the general idea. Matthew Maher also gets a namecheck in his role as Wallace who is, it's fair to say, an utter headcase - you get the impression the rest of the cast do what they're told to, but it's all very odd. I'm also going to call out Ron Rifkin in a very tiny role - I knew I knew him from somewhere but had to check Wikipedia to remind myself he was Arvin Sloane in Alias (which I really enjoyed) for 103 episodes and he also did 95 episodes of Brothers And Sisters.
The director Owen Kline (Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates's son) spent six years writing, directing and editing the film - and Daniel certainly ages a few years throughout the film. The character Robert first appeared in a comic he wrote and I guess he just decided to somewhat extend matters. It very much feels like a labour of love whilst he ploughs his own furrow and for that I have to admire him. In keeping with the story and acting, the film style is very odd too - the picture quality makes it look very like it was found footage from the late 60s or early 70s.
However, I do have to argue with The Guardian's description of this being a "deliciously dark coming-of-age comedy" - it is dark, but it certainly ain't delicious. And what it definitely isn't is a comedy - there's lots of "funny" behaviour but I don't actually remember laughing at any of it. Several of the scenarios have potential for humour, but it's all played so, so bizarrely it's almost as though the director was being contrarily obtuse - "go on, laugh at this then".
I do think that if you're a fan of Harvey Pekar or Robert Crumb's style then you're more likely to enjoy this than anyone else - if you're not sure if you're a fan of them then I suspect you can probably take it as read that you won't. I admire the effort that had gone into making this, but I just found the whole thing too bizarre for my (often quite bizarre, but obviously not bizarre enough) tastes. If that massive recommendation doesn't put you off, then it's available to stream on Curzon (you've got that, right?) or to rent on all the other more normal channels.
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