Fantasia 2010 Review
Last night I dared to say on Twitter that, after seeing Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, director Edgar Wright is on his way to gaining status as an auteur. This sparked a lively debate among friends on whether this was true, or even what the definition is of an auteur. To my mind, an auteur is a director whose work is instantly recognizable, no matter what the narrative of their film entails, and who tells stories in a way that is both familiar and refreshing with each film. I stand by my statement that Wright puts such a unique mark on his work that with a few more films, he could easily join auteur ranks.
Based on a graphic novel series by Canadian author & artist Bryan Lee O’Malley, Scott Pilgrim tells the story of a young Toronto slacker (Michael Cera) who shares a basement bachelor apartment with his best friend (Kieran Culkin), plays in a so-so band (Sex Bob-omb), and is dating a high school girl names Knives Chau (Ellen Wong). At a party one night, he meets the girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), whom he somehow manages to charm. But, in order to continue dating her, he must defeat her seven evil exes. These battles are fought in classic 1980s video-game style (think early Donkey Kong or Super Mario Bros).
No film is ever going to be the same as the book from which it is adapted. One cannot go into a film expecting it to be the same, nor criticize it for what it might be missing. This is especially difficult for graphic novel adaptations that are not animated, as there are both images and words to consider. In adapting the visual style, though, Wright smartly finds a way both to enhance it, while remaining true to the source material. Unlike some directors who try to show still moments in an effort to replicate graphic novel/comic book style, Wright knows that film is about movement, and finds the movement from the page and pumps it up for the screen.
