Chichester Cinema at New Park
Smiley Face
CHICHESTER INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Part of the 22nd LLGFF on Tour
After proving his worth as a serious filmmaker in 2004 with the hugely impressive Mysterious Skin, Gregg Araki’s latest comes as something of a surprise. Returning to the trashy youth aesthetics of his apocalyptic teen film days, Smiley Face is an unashamedly enjoyable stoner comedy featuring Anna Faris, in a masterful comic performance, as Jane – an out-of-work actress who fills her days getting high and little else. After erroneously eating her flatmates 14 hash-muffins, Jane ventures into the world on a riotous, drug fuelled odyssey that can only end in disaster. She uses money for their electric bill to buy weed, & then burns it in a pan, fails an audition, gets ejected from a sausage factory, steals the original Communist Manifesto & ends up doing community work!
Araki & his designers contribute to a fun look & his wonderfully garish eye for composition has never been sharper. Anne Faris caused a storm at Canne & is flat-out hilarious.
(Tickets £7)
USA · 2007 · Gregg Araki · 88min
