Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World (2010)

Watched 11/15/2020

First post! My random number generator chose practically perfect comic movie, Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World, a favorite in our household.

Edgar Wright is my favorite director and this is his best work by a lot. I love Wright's work because of his ability to speak pop culture. He goes well beyond Family Guy's rapid fire references, though. He uses his quick cuts, clever framing, and character reactions to recreate how pop culture makes you feel. The important bits of Star Wars aren't the cinnamon roll hairstyles or even the lightsabers, they're in the swell of heroic music and the way the camera swoops along with an X-wing to make you feel like you're part of the action. Wright proved his mastery of movie genre with his Three Colours Cornetto trilogy, and gamely stepped into comics, video games, and music just as easily. Arguably, more easily.

Wright knows his way around a soundtrack and I wonder if his ability to energize a movie through deep cut rock tracks made the transition to telling a story about a scrappy bass player smooth. He managed to keep Sex Bob-omb front and center even when framed by stronger, better bands. It's quite a feat.

I've watched this movie a lot. A lot. Especially since Netflix added it. If we don't know what we want to watch? *shrug* Scott Pilgrim it is. But really watching it with minimal distraction and just appreciating it for maybe the first time since I saw it in theaters... wow. What a magnificent bit of visual storytelling. Some of the best contemporary costume design work I've ever seen. The balance of every frame both in composition and light. Incredible. And why have I never appreciated Young Neil before?! Such a great character!! The tiny heart detail on his shirt sleeve!!! Come ON!

But mostly, on this viewing, I felt caught up in Ramona Flowers. What a beautiful and empathetic take on the emotionally broken 20-something woman. Like Ramona, I've been through some shit, and like Ramona, I wasn't my best person as I worked through it. We do ourselves a disservice when we think that hardships instantly make us a better person. Hurt people hurt people. This is the way. It would have been so easy to portray Ramona as either the impossibly cool and impossible to get love interest OR as heartless, damaged and broken. Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Edgar Wright carved out a better, more realistic path for her, delightfully set against an artificial wonderland.

One of my favorite gags in the movie is the moment that Scott sketches Ramona's hair to learn more about her.

For whatever reason, it kind of broke my heart this time. He's so quick to define her by a physical feature, and then, when she changes it, he assumes the worst of her. So I decided to make this the focus of this week's make.

Embroidery on fosshape on paper.

It was surprisingly difficult to get consistency in line across all three, even though I traced guidelines on all three. I'm happy with the results but I'm really happy that I did my first one really quickly and I did it. Now to make it habit.