Ghost World" is an indie treasure.

Rarely do films stick in one's mind a few minutes after seeing them. I have been walking around laughing all day today about scenes in this movie. Other reviews have adequately cataloged the plot, characters and substance of "Ghost World", so I will focus on the beauty of its flavor.

Enid sees the functioning of the adults in her life as the subject of her ironic amusement, and, indeed, the actors brilliantly flesh out the subtle (and not so subtle) humor in their struggles. Every supporting role from the guy who brings his laptop to Starbucks every day to answer the free-coffee trivia questions to the mullet-headed bare-chested convenience store customer with his parking lot numb chuck antics are just hilarious. If ever in life you've looked at a person and wondered for a moment exactly how they got to be who they are, you might see many of their ilk here.

The obvious gem is Steve Buscemi as Seymour, one of my favorite actors. His character reminds me of the Thoreau quote: "the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." He is a man approaching his middle years whose life consists of his dull job, his obese farting roommate, his mother, and his large and obsessive collection of old records that have a room of their own. Not hateful nor whiney about his lot, he simply keeps trying at life, even though his combination of intelligence, appreciation of subtlety and unfortunate odd looks keep him from the mainstream life connections that might fulfill him. Gentle and resigning, he is man who, like many, has come to accept himself and life as things he really can't do anything about. Buscemi manages to play both the fragile patheticness of Seymour and his sweetness, so that we can see why Enid is drawn to him.

This movie (as some of the reviews show) is not for everyone. But, it's definitely one of my new favorites.