Growing up in 1980s and 1990s pop culture, one myth was the idea that if you were a geek or a nerd, or if you had niche interests about arts, movies, comic-books, that made you more special and creative than the mainstream. I can’t point to any one text, but just the idea that if you didn’t like sports, and you weren’t popular, then you were more creative and intelligent. Funny Pages (2022) is a dark comedy that pushes back that cliche in coming-of-age stories, following a high school student Robert (Daniel Zolghadri) who is passionate about making comics and being inspired by outsider or niche art, like old Donald Duck comic-books or Tijuana Bibles.
The first scene where we jump straight into a meeting with a mentor, Mr Katano (Stephen Adly Guirgis) indicates the uneasy tone of the movie, where the more information we accumulate, the more worrying the situation is. A tragedy strikes, and Robert gets into a spot of legal trouble. Even though he comes from a well-off family (Josh Pias and Maria Dizzia play his parents), Robert is determined to go it alone, drop out of high school and pursue his indie comic book dreams (Robert’s comic strip illustrating is by Johnny Ryan). What follows is a queasy, sweaty journey where Robert finds himself out of his depth, yet buying into the idea that this is the gritty experience that will shape him as a true artist. Looking for another mentor figure, he crosses paths with Wallace (Matthew Maher) who reveals he was an assistant colourist at Image Comics.
Directed and written by Owen Kline, co-produced by the Safdie Brothers and Ronald Bronstein, with cinematography by Sean Price Williams and Hunter Zimny, Funny Pages fits into a contemporary mode of indie movie making, while harkening back to the black comedy and discomfort of Todd Solondz and Terry Zwigoff. Following in the tradition of indie comic-book artists like Robert Crumb, Peter Bagge and Daniel Clowes, Funny Pages is a movie of faces, taking in the acne of the young protagonist and the pock-marked, sweatiness of the adults. It’s a movie about oddballs and misfits, and the sea of possible degenerates our main character navigates, while proving himself to be as judgemental and pretentious as the people he is emulating.
RIP to Buddy Duress and Avalanche Bob who both feature in the movie as bit characters. Available to rent or buy online. Recommended.
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