Funny Pages | Existential quest in the world of comics ★★★

At 17, an apprentice cartoonist decides to reject the comfort of family life in the suburbs in order to go in search of himself and to perfect his personality as an artist with a fauna made up of marginalized people.

Marc-Andre Lussier
The Press

Produced by brothers Josh and Bennie Safdie (Uncut Gems), with whom the community of spirit is quite obvious, this first feature film distils a particular humour, of which the filmmaker Owen Kline imposes the tone from the start. The protagonist of his story is Robert, a teenager (excellent Daniel Zolghadri) whose talent for drawing is well established from the outset. An appointment with a mentor art teacher (Stephen Adly Guirguis), who does not hesitate pose naked in front of his student so that the latter can be inspired by the reality of life, unfolds unexpectedly, yet leaving Robert more determined than ever to devote himself entirely to his art.

Leaving the family home to settle in the company of roommates in a small, dilapidated, suffocating and completely filthy apartment in Trenton, New Jersey, the young man finds himself meeting extraordinary characters, all a little crazier than each other. others. Interpreted by actors and actresses whose strong presences indicate a deep affection of the filmmaker for the marginalized, the geek and the world of comics undergroundthese antiheroes serve well the dark humor punctuating the story, while always retaining their share of humanity.

When Robert crosses paths with Wallace (Matthew Maher), a guy who once worked for the Image Comics publishing house, and tries to make him his new mentor, the story takes another turn. In this regard, the last act is rather surprising. Owen Kline, first revealed as an actor (the son of Phoebe Cates and Kevin Kline played a teenager in The Squid and the Whale, by Noah Baumbach), multiplies the nods to connoisseurs of the world of comics and the more subversive fringe of the ninth art. That said, Funny Pages is more of an existential quest than the journey of an artist seeking success.

Launched earlier this year at the Directors’ Fortnight of the Cannes Film Festival, Funny Pages is showing in its original version with French subtitles.

Comedy

Funny Pages

Owen Kline

With Daniel Zolghadri, Matthew Maher, Miles Emanuel

1:26

★★★

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