ghost world or ( 2001 ) ( out of four ) for those of u who tire of standard teen movie and here the film to brighten our day . it a monkey wrench in the crank of the tedious genre that feature actor in their mid twenty portray stereotypical high school character shamelessly indulge predictable plot of frivolous romance . where most movie set in high school find resolve in romantic and ghost world dare to be different . yet it contain all the usual ingredient aimless main character and one dimensional side character and high school graduation and moronic parent and sexual revelation and a romance but it taste different . this movie doesn not believe high school be the root of youth complication while it know that school isn not where the confusion lie it after graduation when the complexity begin . the movie open a a high school senior dance along with a music video . sound like a typical teenager . well and not really . the music this girl listen to isn not exactly mainstream . nothing about enid ( thora birch from american beauty ) be ordinary . the same go for her best friend and rebecca ( scarlett johansson ) . she be slightly more focused than the aimless enid and but and a they graduate from high school in the opening scene and neither of them know what they want out of life . rebecca and enid find interesting people to follow and exploit and and embarrass and just for their own leisure and but even this lose it edge . make the most ( or least ) of their situation and the girl stumble upon an outstandingly pathetic personal ad . a a joke and they respond . however and when they meet this man and enid becomes infatuate with him . in their post high school day and enid and rebecca find themselves slowly drift apart . rebecca be eager to get an apartment and get on with her life and while enid life by the day and follow one infatuation after another . a their attitude gradually change from cynical to sober and enid and rebecca emerge difference become blatantly obvious and but painfully realize . ghost world refers to the world in which these character live and a town slowly be overcome by shop mall and coffee shop while a town that slowly lose it distinction and become a ghost of what it once be . my small town of mason and mi speaks for itself . once a minuscule farm suburb of the state capital and it now a breeding ground for new subdivision and factory and store and gas station and trailer park and and business . before you know it and it will be a densely populated city like the capital itself . ghost world make harsh point and but it never lose it sense of humor . enid be so full of bitter cynicism that we have to laugh . she indulge the dialogue . it often tactlessly frank and savor every opportunity to bash and thrash and ridicule and or insult anyone or anything for any reason . society tend to repress our caustic desire to insult a fellow man and but ghost world doesn not hesitate . it take a lot of risk and but never step in the wrong direction . it connect u with these character . they be so casually antisocial that we can not help but to love them . at time and the movie doesn not require dialogue . it simply examine the character surroundings . we get to know these people so well and we know exactly what theyre think before they say it . they be a part of our instinct to react on impulse . but a character be only as good a the actor behind it . ghost world feature enormously engaging performance . brad renfro give his nobody store clerk a raw blandness . illeana douglas inject a kind of controlled eccentricity into her role a an art teacher . steve buscemi create a hopeless record player collector out of repressed emotion and and lack thereof . scarlett johansson give rebecca a dry and depressed mood . thora birch steal the whole show with a straightforward and fearless performance . although the movie never define the relationship between enid and rebecca and the actor themselves make it clear . they create an entice charisma that gradually turn to an awkward tension . ghost world capture part of our journey from childhood to adulthood with poetic grace and cynical wit . though it not really a come of age film and where a young character finally take a place in the world . enid never find her place and decide her future and or choose a path . by the end of the story and she simply become aware of her possible option . this movie be just the beginning of her story .