Is Katano a predator? Should we be alarmed? Katano dies suddenly, and Robert breaks into the school to "rescue" Katano's artwork, and is arrested in the process. He's encouraging, he believes in the kid, darn it! But then the mood changes.
On the surface, Katano seems like a good mentor. This scene encapsulates "Funny Pages"' sneaky approach. He puts Robert to the test: he wants Robert to draw him on the spot, so he strips down to his socks and stands on his desk, displaying his big belly and everything below it, demanding Robert begin the sketch. It's clear Robert's influences (maybe too clear?), and Katano is a big fan. Send stuff out, get a portfolio together, and remember to always "subvert everything." Robert's work is profane (understatement), with grotesque women heaving gigantic bosoms, performing graphic sexual acts, in a wink-wink style, a crude version of Robert Crumb's work. Katano is giving Robert an inspirational speech: he wants Robert to give up college and/or art school and start trying to get his work published as soon as possible. In the first scene, Robert ( Daniel Zolghadri), a high school senior, sits in the office of his art teacher, an enthusiastic and messy Mr. Nostalgia is probably at work in the film-somewhere-but it's buried under layers of grime and bitter disillusionment. This is Owen Kline's first feature, and he knows this world-the world of comic book obsessives and hopeful comics artists-very well.
Seeya in the funny pages movie#
"Funny Pages"' obvious antecedent is a movie like " Ghost World," but it's more like a teenage " Five Easy Pieces," packaged in a coming-of-age narrative. I personally find it refreshing, astonishing (in parts) even.
I suppose it will depend on your worldview how "Funny Pages" will land. All of the "inspirational" aspects are present in the film as ideas and concepts, perhaps even expectations since we absorb the lessons from "media," but there's an underbelly to those concepts, and the underbelly is the reality. There's a lot of pressure for narratives to assume certain forms: be inspiring, encourage self-empowerment, bask in the glow of a young person stepping into their own light, etc. "Funny Pages" has a startlingly anti-inspirational attitude, while still being wrapped in the trappings of an inspirational movie.
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