too-fancy stores, the dress-up bars, the sense of feeling like a
single star in galaxy full of much brighter stars.
A familiar love-triangle plot consumes "Shopgirl." Claire Danes'
Mirabelle must choose between Ray (Steve Martin), a dot-com
millionaire who stops just short of promising the world, and Jeremy
(Jason Schwartman), a quasi-jobless neurotic who nonetheless
shares a sort of soulful kinship with her.
The film has both dramatic and comedic moments, but it's really
about the mood.
Danes, as the waifish Vermonter alone in the Big City trying to
succeed as an artist while working a dead-end (albeit high-end) job,
is perfect for the role -- and perfect in it. Whole scenes and
atmospheres are built around the expressions on her face, the way
she comports in a room, her timid figure wilting into the wallpaper.
It is a full performance that, while not necessarily complex, is made
more vibrant with Danes controlling the show. The film rests
entirely on her shoulders, and succeeds because of her
commitment to the frailties of the character.
It is easy to see why Mirabelle would be initially drawn to Ray, and
why she would continue to see him despite his lack of concrete
promises and their large age difference. Security, both financial
and romantic, is something she lacks. Jeremy, on their other hand,
seems as directionless as she does -- but, unbeknownst to her, at
least he's doing something about it.
Much of the film is inert. Like the relationship between Ray and
Mirabelle, it's a series of passing glances and interesting sequences
without much forward propulsion. The vivid characterization by
Danes injects much more meaning than what's written in the
screenplay, and it's a credit to the performance that the film sails
along as it does.
Yet there is something to be said about a mood piece that's able to
sustain itself and hold the viewer's interest, as "Shopgirl" surely
does. Perhaps the right combination of performance and ambience
can stir something in each of us that is not necessarily expressed
onscreen but comes to the fore through casual reference and
suggested tone. Much how the film brings to mind memories of the
Los Angeles I once lived in, "Shopgirl" evokes the melancholy
romance of pieces like "Lost in Translation," "Igby Goes Down," and
"Punch-Drunk Love" while not exactly being the same thing.
