First published a decade ago, How to Talk to Girls at Parties is a short story by Neil Gaiman, that was adapted for the screen by John Cameron Mitchell, director known for “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” (2001), “Shortbus” (2006), and the uncharacteristically gloomy “Rabbit Hole” (2010).
'It’s a punked-out sci-fi period-piece romance set in the London suburb of Croydon during the run-up to Queen Elizabeth II’s 1977 Silver Jubilee celebration (the one the Sex Pistols crashed by sailing up the Thames playing “God Save the Queen”). It tells the story of Enn (Alex Sharp), a pogo-ing punk who’s really a sweet kid next door, and how he falls for Zan (Elle Fanning), who belongs to a mysterious alien cult.' (1)
As much as this description sounds absurd, there is not even the least exaggeration in it.
HTTTGAP is a movie that does not aim high, has no complex or revolutionary plot, and doesn't try to bring its fictional world closer to the real thing. This is where the brilliance of this little work is hiding, which is just 102 minutes of pure entertainment. Director Mitchell injects in the annoying boy-meets-girl trop the irresistible dose of punk culture and a combination of the good old British comedy of innocence with satire. For those who watched Valley Girl and Rock and Roll High School, HTTGAP will look awfully familiar, in a very positive way.
On the other hand, the question arises whether he is respecting and appreciating Gaiman's template. Yes, that part of the film, which is based on a short novel, received minor changes of aesthetic, but the story itself remained unchanged. A good part of the novel's dialogue is still there, sometimes a little overgrown among characters, but nothing that would be worth of criticism. The story's extensions yield a few positive moments, of which perhaps the visualization of the relationship between protagonists and aliens is more important, especially in the moments of music experience. The film also gives a slightly better insight into the life of the protagonists performed in the atmosphere of teenage comedy and the establishment of the Gaiman class system of aliens. While the novel for moments leaves the impression of the complexity of all these different classes within the alien group, the film resolves it by the system of color coding by classes, and by more detailed explication of what each of the layers of alien society deals with.
Though many consider HTTTGAP a musical, this film is far from it. True, the film is full of great music ranging from The Damned and The Velvet Underground, through the works of Nick Muhly to indie and experimental newer names such as Xiu Xiu, Mitski and Ezra Furman. Still, the movie is more music driven than a musical.
As Brian Tallerico beautifully puts it ''Despite that, there’s a laudable lunacy to “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” that makes it hard to hate. Rarely has a character within a movie summed up how I felt about its tonal inconsistencies as much as when Zan turns to Enn after a particularly funny discussion and says, “There are contradictions in your metaphor … but I am moved by it.”
This was partly a translation from from Croatian to English from Ziher hr article by A.Fatic
(1) Variety