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The movie Shopgirl is a modern story of love and the ways of
dealing with it. 20-something Mirabelle Buttersfield is waiting plainly for
her life to begin, feeling lost and alone, living in LA by herself. She wants
to be an artist but is struggling to make money, so she keeps a job as a
clerk in the glove department at Saks. Simultaneously, two men come suddenly
into her story: sloppy goofball, loafer Jason, and the older, wealthy
gentleman Ray. She wavers between the two and falls for Ray, but things
aren't always that perfect.
The movie is based on a novella written by Steve Martin, who also wrote
the screenplay, helped produce it and played one of the lead characters.
Don't be mislead though by any reputation Steve Martin may have earned
himself from some recent, cheap movies you may have seen advertised on the
back of a bus-The Pink Panther, Cheaper by the Dozen 1
and 2-Shopgirl is a serious work of a respectable quality.
It has very much the sense of a novel, but translates well to the screen.
Steve Martin narrates parts of the movie in simple prose obviously taken from
his writing; at first this really bugged me, but after a while I came to like
how it matched the beat of the movie, setting or emphasizing the mood.
The plot is strongly driven by the characters; their development creates
the story. The movie rings true in many ways; it's a classical love triangle,
but the characters are solid and real. The acting of course helps to bring
this out. Clare Danes does a good job at portraying the lonely, simple
desire in Mirabelle, a sensible girl, undemanding, looking for love. Jason
Schwartzman as Jeremy is funny and the tiniest bit charming in his slacking,
selfish character who changes the most through the movie. Steve Martin plays
Ray, and though I was initially off put at the difference between his and
Mirabelle's age, his apparent sleaziness disintegrated to show a
compassionate good guy with a commitment problem.
What I really felt from the movie was its subtleness. The sweet story is
simple, but the characters have real complexity, and the emotions are
completely believable.
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