Cast: Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi, Illeana Douglas, Brad Renfro Directed by: Terry Zwigoff An old guy in a threadbare suit is always found sitting on a bench, waiting for a bus, which never comes.
The staunchly outsider protagonists of this poignant and wryly funny existential comedy are waiting for a bus...
to take them to a world they can connect with.
Based on a comic-novel by Dan Clowes, the movie brings to life the freakishly intelligent, cynical and articulate character of Enid (Thora Birch playing one of the most memorable characters ever created).
She has recently graduated from high school and she has no plans of doing anything even remotely aligned with socially accepted norms.
She is, by choice, what most people would call a loser.
Enid is forced to take a make-up summer art course.
The overly earnest, ex-hippie teacher, in her quest for higher meaning, has lost her ability to appreciate art for its own sake.
She sees a student's father in his rendering of a violent video game character and finds a 'tampon in a teacup' an exceptional expression of 'repressed femininity'.
Enid sees the people around her fitting in effortlessly, going ahead with their lives ('majoring in business management with a minor in communications'), being happy with 'a Big Mac and a pair of Nikes'.
But Enid sees all too acutely the shallowness and mediocrity of the homogenized listless culture around her.
And she cannot find a place for herself in it.
Her best friend, the pretty but smart Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson) is Enid's only soulmate at the outset.
But Enid is slowly losing Rebecca to the drab, routine adult life of day jobs and apartment hunting.
Then Enid meets Seymour (Steve Buscemi) on one of her exploration trips of 'authentic' 50s style retro restaurants, backyard sales and video rental stores.
Seymour leads an hermetically sealed, resigned existence, surrounded by his collection of 1500 seventy-eight mm ragtime and blues records (he has pared it down to the essentials).
Unknowingly, Enid and Rebecca play a cruel joke on Seymour by responding to a personals ad placed by him.
But subsequently, Enid recognizes a kindred soul in him.
She finds him such a 'clueless dork' that he's almost cool.
Their relationship is based on brutally affectionate companionship and their shared unapologetic acceptance of their outsider status in society.
The difference is, Enid is brazen while Seymour is reticent to the point of being invisible.
Enid tells Seymour that she could find a girlfriend for him, who shares his interests.
Seymour replies, "Maybe I don't want to meet someone who shares my interests.
I hate my interests.
" He knows that he is seen as one of those 'pathetic collector losers', trying to fill up the void in his life with stuff.
Seymour harbors no illusions, big or small, as to his utility to the world or his chances of getting a date with a gorgeous brunette in a cafe.
At some level, all of us feel trapped by life's conventions but find ourselves to be helpless.
These people have rejected society and accepted their emotional solitude in the bargain.
There are no easy resolutions but Enid and Seymour do find out ways to carry on.
'Ghost World' observes and attempts to comprehend the internal realm in which these characters live.
And it does so with a tenderly humane touch.