Secretly Canadian
Sep. 13th, 2010 03:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
millionreasonsI thought I would hate Scott Pilgrim as a) I'm weary of comic book adaptations b) I'm bored of stories about boys doing fabulous things to win girls and c) I still find Michael Cera really creepy. I thought the film'd be the tedious super-heroism of Kick Ass plus the faux-romanticism of Youth In Revolt.
But I absolutely adored it. Forget the Tekken stuff, it seemed to me to be a hyper-real story of what it's like to live in a cool, but small city (it could have been set in Austin or Portland or even Williamsburg) where everyone knows each other, has slept with each other and is in a band. I started re-casting the cliches - older bloke who knows everyone, girl who hangs with all the bands, the indie bigwig - with London scenesters. Even the guy who tags along with the band in the hope he'll one day be asked to fill in seemed familiar. There were enough being-in-a-band jokes to make me laugh - the soundman hating you, playing your arse off to a half-hearted audience, the female drummer rivalry, the cool band with the 10 second song, the local band who made it big and come back full of 'tude, the indie-strummy love song, the toilet venues - and although not a gamer, I got some of the computer games jokes - band's marshall amps falling like tetris shapes, Scott gaining coins (w00t) when beating an opponent (although not enough to get the bus home). There were no geeky jokes about Star Trek or whether Princess Laeia or Wonder Woman would win in a fight. There were Bollywood vampires and a great vegan joke (I always thought the vegan police were an invention of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
richardbajor's, but it turns out they're real). There were also a funny Hollywood pisstake in the character of skater turned action hero Lucas Lee and I liked that Scott has to use cunning rather than brute force to defeat his enemies.
I tweeted that gay is the new black and Michael Cera always has a gay sidekick to provide the humour/wisdom (and to show how modern and right on is character is). But unlike the other films, Scott's gay chum gets some on-screen action (although Kieron McCulkin has chubbed out too much to be the cutie-pie of yore). Unlike Kick Ass where the love interest was just boobs and hair, and Youth in Revolt where you wanted Cera to dump his irritating girlfriend, the women were proper characters, and unlike Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist where the ex-girlfriend is manipulative or the average Judd Apatow film where they are insane stalker bitches, but a) a hot successful popstar and b) a naive schoolgirl who goes on her own journey to become a fully-rounded character.
It felt very 90s (perhaps Toronto is very 90s): fey boys falling for difficult but desirabe girls with coloured hair, big boots and bright tights, like a fantasy version of a Richard Linklater slacker film. We never see Scott's mum and dad even though they live right across the street from his basement bedsit, quite right as parents don't feature heavily in a 22 year old's life.
Oh, and The Katayanagi Twins are my new favourite band.
But I absolutely adored it. Forget the Tekken stuff, it seemed to me to be a hyper-real story of what it's like to live in a cool, but small city (it could have been set in Austin or Portland or even Williamsburg) where everyone knows each other, has slept with each other and is in a band. I started re-casting the cliches - older bloke who knows everyone, girl who hangs with all the bands, the indie bigwig - with London scenesters. Even the guy who tags along with the band in the hope he'll one day be asked to fill in seemed familiar. There were enough being-in-a-band jokes to make me laugh - the soundman hating you, playing your arse off to a half-hearted audience, the female drummer rivalry, the cool band with the 10 second song, the local band who made it big and come back full of 'tude, the indie-strummy love song, the toilet venues - and although not a gamer, I got some of the computer games jokes - band's marshall amps falling like tetris shapes, Scott gaining coins (w00t) when beating an opponent (although not enough to get the bus home). There were no geeky jokes about Star Trek or whether Princess Laeia or Wonder Woman would win in a fight. There were Bollywood vampires and a great vegan joke (I always thought the vegan police were an invention of
richardbajor's, but it turns out they're real). There were also a funny Hollywood pisstake in the character of skater turned action hero Lucas Lee and I liked that Scott has to use cunning rather than brute force to defeat his enemies.I tweeted that gay is the new black and Michael Cera always has a gay sidekick to provide the humour/wisdom (and to show how modern and right on is character is). But unlike the other films, Scott's gay chum gets some on-screen action (although Kieron McCulkin has chubbed out too much to be the cutie-pie of yore). Unlike Kick Ass where the love interest was just boobs and hair, and Youth in Revolt where you wanted Cera to dump his irritating girlfriend, the women were proper characters, and unlike Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist where the ex-girlfriend is manipulative or the average Judd Apatow film where they are insane stalker bitches, but a) a hot successful popstar and b) a naive schoolgirl who goes on her own journey to become a fully-rounded character.
It felt very 90s (perhaps Toronto is very 90s): fey boys falling for difficult but desirabe girls with coloured hair, big boots and bright tights, like a fantasy version of a Richard Linklater slacker film. We never see Scott's mum and dad even though they live right across the street from his basement bedsit, quite right as parents don't feature heavily in a 22 year old's life.
Oh, and The Katayanagi Twins are my new favourite band.
