"Shopgirl"--based on a Steve Martin screenplay, from his short novel of the same name--may fall short of being a perfect film, but it is still terrifically touching. I was already a fan of the novel and found some minor flaws in the film--so it was a little unexpected that the ending succeeded in getting me choked up. But it did, and it's a film I'm sure I'll see again.
Yes, it could have been a bit longer. It could have, at the very least, added 60 seconds to each of a number of high-potential scenes--the very funny (but could have been even better) scene when Jeremy (Jason Schwartzman) unknowingly knocks a telephone off its base, and the "early courtship" scenes between Ray (Steve Martin) and Mirabelle (Claire Danes). Also, more time could have been spent on those elements of Mirabelle's life that form a great part of her identity--her drawings, her monotonous work at Saks, her depression.
In spite of these failings the film succeeds because of its earnest heart. Like Kevin Smith's "Chasing Amy," it manages to tell some hard (almost taboo) truths about sexuality in the "liberated" modern world, about how people hurt each other and themselves while seeking intimate relationships free of any actual commitment. Also, while the story has some moments where the plot mechanics show through a bit too obviously, it is a film that seems content to put heavy emphasis on a mood and on the lyrical dreaminess--the disorienting, overwhelming faith and hope--involved in a love affair.
The cast, if not always flawless, really drew me into the film. Even Rebecca Pigeon, in her small part, steps out and captures a type of character very different from what we've seen from her before. Jason Schwartzman, as usual, is an impish, irresistible goof. Martin makes a good Ray Porter, even if he is just a few years old for the part and had to stretch a bit as he reached for the darker elements in a character who ranges from being very sensitive to being very cold. And despite the relative sparsity of simple, Mirabelle "character moments" in the film, Danes does a fine job with Mirabelle, a young woman who--both in the book and in the film--is something of an enigma not only to the men in her life but to the audience and herself.
Yes, it could have been a bit longer. It could have, at the very least, added 60 seconds to each of a number of high-potential scenes--the very funny (but could have been even better) scene when Jeremy (Jason Schwartzman) unknowingly knocks a telephone off its base, and the "early courtship" scenes between Ray (Steve Martin) and Mirabelle (Claire Danes). Also, more time could have been spent on those elements of Mirabelle's life that form a great part of her identity--her drawings, her monotonous work at Saks, her depression.
In spite of these failings the film succeeds because of its earnest heart. Like Kevin Smith's "Chasing Amy," it manages to tell some hard (almost taboo) truths about sexuality in the "liberated" modern world, about how people hurt each other and themselves while seeking intimate relationships free of any actual commitment. Also, while the story has some moments where the plot mechanics show through a bit too obviously, it is a film that seems content to put heavy emphasis on a mood and on the lyrical dreaminess--the disorienting, overwhelming faith and hope--involved in a love affair.
The cast, if not always flawless, really drew me into the film. Even Rebecca Pigeon, in her small part, steps out and captures a type of character very different from what we've seen from her before. Jason Schwartzman, as usual, is an impish, irresistible goof. Martin makes a good Ray Porter, even if he is just a few years old for the part and had to stretch a bit as he reached for the darker elements in a character who ranges from being very sensitive to being very cold. And despite the relative sparsity of simple, Mirabelle "character moments" in the film, Danes does a fine job with Mirabelle, a young woman who--both in the book and in the film--is something of an enigma not only to the men in her life but to the audience and herself.