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Danes is Mirabelle, a lonely, demure young woman who’s just moved from Vermont to Los Angeles and is courted by the shallow, immature Jeremy (Jason Schwartzman) and the wealthy Roy Porter (Steve Martin), who also happens to be decades older than her.

Considering Martin’s material, which is as unsensational as real life, Anand Tucker’s inspired directorial style and Peter Suschitzky’s exquisite cinematography are invaluable. I’ve never seen the Los Angeles of Shopgirl before. Tucker was a wonderful choice for director – Shopgirl is unique, yet so classical looking, relying heavily on creative camerawork. It boasts some of the most striking imagery I’ve seen in recent memory and cinematic moments that may not arouse much more than pleasant ambivalence at first, but stick with you long after the end credits.

Much like Lost in Translation, Shopgirl is an aesthetic experience. Without the soundtrack, it’d be a very quiet film and Martin has a lot of faith in his audience that it will figure out what he’s not overtly telling them (barring his character’s revealing voiceover narration that is). And luckily, this minimalist approach leaves lots of room for acting.

Danes is simply remarkable here; her performance is understated, graceful and is of equal technique and authenticity. She’s much more deserving of attention from the Academy than Scarlett Johansson was for Lost in Translation. The same can’t be said really for Steve Martin – regarding Bill Murray – but that’s quite intentional I imagine; one suspects his film is a letter to a lost love and not necessarily a character study focused on him alone.

The comedy is nice, often great, but more of a side note. It feels like something Martin couldn’t resist, but didn’t necessarily intend, except perhaps to highlight how awkward and strange love and relationships really are. But the effect of this is Shopgirl has a very natural sense of humor that fortunately gets taken advantage of by the talented Jason Schwartzman, who provides almost all the comedic relief (and apparently improvised more than a few lines).

The result is a hopeful film that could’ve taken a much sadder route – however, not a grain of honesty is expended because of this. Shopgirl is very much about loss, longing, and regret, it just finds a peace within it all and accepts the reality that people learn and change slowly, not in the duration of a primetime makeover show. They don't always say the most romantic things or do the most exciting things.

As an added bonus, composer Barrington Pheloung offers up a totally unexpected and splendidly intrusive score that is sometimes sugary sweet and other times, dramatic and ominous. When the characters aren’t easily understood, the music picks up some of the slack. In fact, the music, in general, is an essential part of Shopgirl. Jeremy’s musician buddy (John Fedevich, Almost Famous) has more than one snippet of a set featured and quite frankly, I want his album!

The fashion, too, is hardly dispensable. Danes is clad in some of the most beautiful and elegant dresses, and they are clearly influenced by Danes (Mirabelle), not current fads. Just as Shopgirl’s soundtrack is sure to adorn fans, so is Danes' wardrobe (as is her lack of a wardrobe in one scene, to the male audience at least). Expect to see the fashion magazines take notice.

Shopgirl is so satisfying, despite what little it gives up to an audience not willing to work for it. An unconventional, honest romance paired with gorgeous visuals, Shopgirl will garner criticism from folks who thought Lost in Translation was way better, but I'd rather judge it all on its own and what I see is a film that just aches with its themes and makes me wonder what woman, if based on a real person, Martin wrote it about...and possibly, for.

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originally posted: 10/21/05 17:15:10
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