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Funny Pages (Film Review)

The first five minutes of tricks you into thinking this will be your standard coming-of-age flick, then gut-punches you by a tyre-screeching left turn. This will set the tone for the remaining hour and twenty minutes.

's feature directorial and writing debut is a curiously odd piece, and certainly unlike any coming-of-age story you've seen before. Following teenage wannabe-cartoonist Robert (Daniel Zolghadri), arriving at the age of aggressive desire for independence. He has three goals in mind – to move out to his own place, to get his own car, and to become a professional cartoonist. His only friend appears to be Miles (Miles Emanuel), who shares a penchant for the inked page with his own crudely drawn strips. Marvel and DC are not this pair's forte, instead indulging in Felix the Cat and underground cartoonists like Johnny Ryan (who drew many of Funny Page's rude comics himself).

Along this path of enforced self-reliance, Robert comes across a menagerie of curiously strange characters – two perpetually sweaty roommates in Robert's new abode, a dingy basement downtown, as well as the kaleidoscopic hothead Wallace (Matthew Maher), whose fuse is so short he's practically exploding every moment he's on screen. Funny Pages plays itself less like a cohesive narrative, finding itself more in line with the crude comic strips it celebrates – it wanders through surreally dark vignettes as Zolghadri's understated performance plays off as intense nervousness, or quiet reverence as he attempts to learn or bond with each bizarre bohemian he interacts with.

Funny Pages has an intensely anti-maudlin, offbeat spirit that emanates throughout every scene. Growing more and more as Robert attempts to force connection with Wallace upon discovering his brief history at Image Comics. It's incredibly clear the two will never be friends, and that Wallace is intensely aggravated by Robert at every turn but is more than happy to take his flagrantly high offers of cash in return for inking lessons. Many expect a typical structure to coming-of-age films, with someone diving into their lows but eventually rising, having learned from their experiences, and matured as a result. Robert on the other hand, finds himself increasingly undermined, confused and at some points literally at a loss at what to do. Kline implements an ironic twist of fate in that trying to force oneself to become an adult can perhaps lead to a greater self-infantilisation than you could ever predict.

There's an increasingly chaotic discordance to Robert's life as he and Wallace continue to oscillate between something akin to friends and what is transparently a slightly psychotic man taking advantage of a child. Wallace's destruction of Robert's bathroom is perhaps one of the most awkwardly hilarious breaks from any normalcy Funny Pages attempts to establish. While it's clear Kline isn't necessarily interested in those sentimental moments of education, there are a few glimmers of respect as Wallace and Robert share a moment over his clear talent and passion for drawing. It is immensely brief, but in a film like this, palpable, nonetheless.

Funny Pages is undeniably an incredibly unexpected subversion from the typical coming-of-age fare – completely throwing you off from its beginnings and relishing in your struggle to hold on as Robert's life begins to spiral far out of his control. This is possibly the ultimate feel-bad coming-of-age movie, and you have to admire Owen Kline for having the boldness to commit to such a downer of an ending. Perhaps Funny Pages is best summed up like this: Funny – but not ‘haha' funny, funny weird.

Funny Pages is available in UK Cinemas now.