Art School Confidential Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Art School Confidential Blu-ray Movie Review

Portrait of the young man as artist.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 5, 2018

The cover of Art School Confidential probably predictably touts the film’s perceived connection to Ghost World, given the fact that both films were written by Daniel Clowes (in both cases based on pre-existing comic books and/or graphic novels by Clowes) and directed by Terry Zwigoff. Another Zwigoff entry might be seen as at least as “connected” to Art School Confidential as Ghost World supposedly is, and that film would be Zwigoff’s riveting documentary Crumb, at least insofar as Crumb detailed the work of an artist who might charitably be described as being several standard deviations off the norm (whatever that is). Art School Confidential didn’t attract the same amount of attention that either Ghost World or Crumb did (or even indeed Zwigoff’s interstitial effort between Ghost World and this film, the raucously scabrous Bad Santa), but it’s an interesting and at least occasionally laugh out loud effort that admittedly has some tonal imbalances, but which manages to be both gently provocative as well as intermittently disturbing and whimsically humorous.

While the bulk of Art School Confidential understandably takes place at an art school, a set of opening vignettes documents the regular bullying young Jerome endures at school as a result of his artistic tendencies. As an older teenager, Jerome (Max Minghella) has advanced enough in his drawing and painting technique that he has been accepted at Strathmore, a local private college dedicated to several arts, including fashion and filmmaking, two adjunct media that end up playing into the story courtesy of Max’s dorm roomates, Vince (Ethan Suplee) and Matthew (Nick Swardson). Vince is trying to arrange financing for a film he wants to make based on a “real life” police case involving Strathmore and a serial killer known as the Strathmore Strangler. Matthew is a budding fashion designer whose gayness isn’t exactly unnoticed — except by the clueless Vince.

One of the reasons Jerome was interested in Strathmore was his infatuation with an art model seen pictured in the recruiting brochure, and of course as expected Jerome ultimately meets her when she comes to model for his class. She’s the surprisingly accessible Audrey (Sophia Myles), who it turns out is the daughter of a famous contemporary artist. Jerome meanwhile struggles to adapt to the world of Strathmore, despite the mentoring efforts of buddy Bardo (Joel Moore). The virginal Jerome keeps trying to establish a more romantic connection with Audrey, who seems to have “friend zoned” him, but Jerome finds his efforts even more stymied when lunkheaded jock Jonah (Matt Keeslar) shows up in class and unexpectedly blows everyone, including teacher Professor Sandifurd (John Malkovich), out of the water with his childlike drawings.

The film’s darker tendencies are perhaps most obvious in some interstitial scenes featuring Strathmore graduate Jimmy (Jim Broadbent), who is now a pretty hopeless alcoholic living in a hovel and ranting at Jerome and Bardo when they come to visit. But Art School Confidential actually has a rather black comedic undertone running through much of its course, something that finds an outlet in sometimes hilarious “critiques” of students’ works (Jerome’s obviously finely rendered portraits are considered “lame”, while what look like scribbled crayon drawings by a two year old are deemed “genius”) to the vagaries of fame in such an often random career (Adam Scott portrays an unctuous Strathmore graduate who has hit the big time).

Of course the blackest element of Art School Confidential turns out to be the subplot involving the Strathmore Strangler, who continues to wreak havoc as all the other shenanigans are playing out. Clowes and Zigoff offer a whole slate of red herrings, though it’s obvious they want the audience to at least suspect that Jonah is involved (he is, but not in the way you might initially think). When the film suddenly tips over into a "point of view" murder scene that looks like it could have been part of a slightly comedic Peeping Tom, I can see how some viewers might question what the creative staff behind the film were aiming for, but I have to say I actually found the third act in this film strangely riveting, as events spiral out of control and Jerome finds success in a most unexpected manner. In fact it’s here that what is perhaps Clowes’ most sardonic cultural analysis may be most obvious, and it doesn’t exactly paint a pretty picture of what fame amounts to in the contemporary world, art or otherwise.

There are arguably a few too many loose ends in Art School Confidential, including a late “reveal” about Sandiford that is neither all that funny nor needed, and which is certainly undeveloped beyond one quick bit. And the fact that Jerome may be technically innocent of one set of deaths but actually responsible for at least one other tends to give this film a kind of awkwardly skewed “morality”, but that may actually be part of its completely off kilter charm. Performances are generally quite winning throughout this enterprise, and those who liked either Ghost World or Crumb may find this an intermittently diverting entertainment.

Art School Confidential Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Art School Confidential is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of MVD Marquee Collection, an imprint of MVD Visual, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Culled from the Metro Goldwyn Mayer catalog, Art School Confidential has a generally appealing appearance, though it does show some perhaps surprising signs of age, considering its relatively recent origins. There are several admittedly minor moments of speckling throughout the presentation (keep your eyes peeled during the scenes where Anjelica Huston is leading a "lab" conversation, and you'll see several small white flecks appear at various times), but the palette looks just slightly drab at times, with fleshtones often tipping toward browns. That said, detail levels are generally quite nice and precise looking throughout the presentation, and some of the artwork has some colors that pop nicely. On the whole grain resolves naturally, but as perhaps can be gleaned from some of the screenshots accompanying this review, can tend to clump at times, and be somewhat variable at others.

Art School Confidential Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Art School Confidential features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 tracks. Both tracks offer fine fidelity, but I have to say aside from some more noticeable moments like a few source cues and "crowd" scenes like the costume party Jerome attends, I frankly didn't notice a ton of difference between the stereo and surround tracks. The surround track does provide more low end, and scenes with a bunch of people in the frame simultaneously do at least occasionally achieve a bit of directionality, but this is not a really "showy" surround track in terms of consistent sonics. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly on both tracks and there are no problems with damage or distortion.

Art School Confidential Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Making of Art School Confidential (480i; 8:27) is a fun piece with some good interviews with Dan Clowes (who compares what he went through in art school to what Oliver Stone went through in Vietnam) and Terry Zwigoff, along with enjoyable behind the scenes footage.


• Sundance Featurette (480i; 7:05) features some footage from the 2006 Utah festival.


• Deleted Scenes (480i; 11:15)


• Additional Scene: Testimonials (480i; 1:09)


• Bloopers & Alternate Takes (480i; 4:45)


• Trailers includes Art School Confidential (480i; 1:44), along with several other MVD releases.

Art School Confidential Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Art School Confidential may not have the "street cred" of either Ghost World or Crumb, but it's a rather interesting and at times kind of cheekily provocative outing that has some wry things to say about contemporary culture in general and the art world in particular. The film arguably goes a bit off the rails with too many undeveloped sidebars, but for fans of the cast or its vaunted writer-director team, Art School Confidential comes Recommended.