Megan Koester
Film director Terry Zwighoff with a black and white cat in his lap.
Director Terry Zwigoff and feline friend.
Independent filmmaker Terry Zwigoff’s films celebrate how art and artmaking can enrich our lives, while providing a healthy skepticism about academic discussions of its significance.
That sentence makes me sound like the overreaching high school art teacher played by Illeana Douglas in Zwigoff’s best narrative feature, Ghost World (2001). But Madison audiences can set aside such broad critical claims and discuss Zwigoff’s films with the director himself during his upcoming visit to the UW-Madison Cinematheque Nov. 10-11. A five-film series kicks off with Zwigoff’s preferred cut of Bad Santa, his 2003 dark holiday comedy starring Billy Bob Thornton, on Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. in 4070 Vilas Hall.
Zwigoff will also attend screenings of Ghost World and Russell Rouse’s melodrama Wicked Woman (1954), one of his favorites, on Nov. 11.
The series wraps up with Zwigoff’s documentaries Louie Bluie (1985) and Crumb (1995) on Dec. 2. Crumb was championed by Roger Ebert, who called it “one of the most remarkable and haunting documentaries ever made.” The lesser known Louie Bluie, a portrait of musician and artist Howard Armstrong, anticipates the ideas about art and music in Zwigoff’s later films.
Appleton native and UW-Madison alum Zwigoff found his way to San Francisco in the 1970s. According to Michael Sragrow’s Criterion Collection essay on Louie Bluie, Zwigoff’s interest in music of the 1920s and 1930s led him to performing with the Cheap Suit Serenaders, underground comic artist Robert Crumb’s group dedicated to music from that period. Zwigoff’s obsession with a particular recording of “State Street Rag” credited to “Louie Bluie” motivated him to track down musician Howard Armstrong in Detroit. Meeting Armstrong began Zwigoff’s long journey into filmmaking. The completed hour-long portrait competed at Sundance 1986.
Abundantly confident in front of the camera, Armstrong exemplifies a life well lived, creating music and art. We hear great music in both domestic and stage settings, as the high-spirited Armstrong performs with colleagues and extended family members between anecdotes and memories of a bygone era. Stories are punctuated by Armstrong’s own artwork and illustrations. Zwigoff captures these moments with efficiency and gives Armstrong room to shine.
In the film, Armstrong reveals a book of his artwork titled ABC’s of Pornography, and discusses it with a friend who appears to be unaware of that part of Amstrong’s artistic life. The imagery calls to mind underground comics of the 1960s, and the ABC’s resonate with the art of Robert Crumb.
This is not the only moment in Louie Bluie that anticipates elements in later films. A fan asking Armstrong to sign a 78-rpm record sleeve echoes a scene in Ghost World where Seymour (Steve Buscemi) attends a concert to ask a blues legend for a signature. While the Academy Award-nominated Ghost World screenplay was adapted by Zwigoff and Daniel Clowes from the latter’s graphic novel, Seymour does not appear in the original comic.
Screen captures from the films Ghost World and Bad Santa.
The director will be on hand for both ‘Ghost World,’ left, and ‘Bad Santa’ screenings at Cinematheque.
A key plot point in Ghost World is when Enid (Thora Birch) has a genuine aesthetic experience repeatedly listening to one of Seymour’s records. For Seymour and Enid, the authenticity of the music stands in contrast to the white-boy blues they find at the blues bar or the art-school lingo Enid hears at school. Both would appreciate the authenticity of Howard Armstrong in Louie Bluie.
Wicked Woman, Zwigoff’s choice for an archival screening to accompany his visit, should inspire an interesting discussion. Beverly Michaels stars as Billie, who gets off a bus in a new town, finds cheap lodging, and must figure out how to make money. Not just find a job to sustain herself, but money to support the lifestyle that she knows she deserves.
The plot is predictable as soon as Billie’s eyes meet those of unhappily married bar owner Matt (Richard Egan). How the plot plays out will be far more interesting to discuss.
The opening sequence is a textbook example of the “male gaze,” as the gaze transfers from lecherous onlookers to the camera itself. This is a film noir without the “noir.” Flat, high-key, 1950s television-style lighting and spartan sets give each scene a tension. The predominance of medium and long shots give the occasional close ups a genuine urgency. That clarity and urgency carries over to the narrative efficiency of the 77-minute running time.
If I were an art teacher in a Zwigoff film, I would explain why Zwigoff selected Wicked Woman. Luckily, I’m not. I’ll wait for the explanation from Zwigoff himself.
Cinematheque screenings are free and open to the public. See the full schedule at cinema.wisc.edu.
Update: Zwigoff will also be presenting clips from some of his favorite films and discussing them on Friday, Nov. 10 at 3 p.m., also at 4070 Vilas Hall.
