American Splendor
by Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Chris Ambrose, Harvey Pekar, Joey Krajcar, Paul Giamatti, Shari Springer BermanDirector: Robert Pulcini, Shari Springer Berman
Brand: GIAMATTI,PAUL
Writer: Shari Springer Berman
Writer: Harvey Pekar
Writer: Robert Pulcini
Producer: Christine K. Walker
Producer: Declan Baldwin
Writer: Joyce Brabner
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: AC-3, Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.77:1
Running Time: 101 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-02-03
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Model: 92031
Studio: HBO Video
Product features:
- Actors: Paul Giamatti, Shari Springer Berman, Harvey Pekar, Chris Ambrose, Joey Krajcar.
- Format: AC-3, Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC.
- Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), English (Dolby Digital 5.1). Subtitles: English, Spanish, French.
- Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only).
- Rated: R. Run Time: 101 minutes.
Movie Reviews of American Splendor
Movie Review: A True Contemporary Film
Summary: 5 Stars
Have you ever heard somebody talk about their life? Do they only talk about the good? Why don't they ever talk about the mundane things? The stuff that most people hide from even their closest of friends and family, huh? That's what I want to hear! What were the supermarkets like where you grew up? How do you cope with cancer treatment? What's it like to work as a VA hospital file clerk?
From off the streets of Cleveland comes American Splendor! A comic book series created by Harvey Pekar from Cleveland, OH. In 2003, a movie was made depicting the life and times of Harvey as played by Paul Giamatti. From his inspirational first meeting with underground comic book writer Robert Crumb (James Urbaniak), to meeting the love of his lifer, Joyce Brabner (Hope Davis) from Wilmington, Delaware, to when he discovered he had cancer and survived it by writing it into a comic book.
The DVD presents this Independent film in it's original matted widescreen ratio of 1:85:1. The sound is offered in both 2.0 and 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound. The picture quality is marvelous and the way certain scenes were filmed, it gives the audience the illusion at times that they're actually reading a live comic book.
The bonus features include Audio Commentary from directors and writers Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman, Harvey's movie counterpart Paul Giamatti, Harvey's best friend Toby Radloff, Toby's movie counterpart Judah Friedlander, Joyce Brabner, and Harvey and Joyce's daughter Danielle Batone. Although Harvey tends to keep quiet most of the time, the others have a wonderful time reminiscing on what scenes from the film were originally taken from their comic book form and what scenes were written specifically for the film itself.
Other features include the original theatrical trailer, a featurette created by The Sundance Channel titled "The Road to American Splendor", a selection of upcoming DVDs from HBO Films, DVD-ROM downloads from the website www.americansplendormovie.com, 3 Easter eggs, a full length audio clip of the song "American Splendor" performed by Eytan Mirsky, and as a special bonus a free comic enclosed with the DVD case titled "My Movie Year" which ran in Entertainment Weekly magazine from 2002-2003.
American Splendor started out as a comic book series in the late 1970s dealing with the mundane aspects of life such as "standing behind old Jewish ladies in supermarket lines," "an argument at work," and "pickled okra." Harvey Pekar wrote all of these stories but the artwork would often be done by a series of artists including Robert Crumb, Gary Dumm, and Drew Friedman. Since then, American Splendor has been performed in a stage play format, and now as a feature film that depicts not just the actors, but the actual people they are playing! Harvey, Joyce, Toby, and Danielle all appear in the film of American Splendor as do the comic representations of Harvey.
At times, the movie breaks away from its script and shows actual behind the scenes footage of the real Harvey, Toby, and Joyce doing interviews with the directors in a studio with a pure white background. One may consider this a newer version of the 1995 biopic Crumb directed by Terry Swigoff which the real Harvey makes reference to during one of these "interviews."
The film American Splendor has won many awards including the 2003 Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, the 2003 Fipresci Award (International Film Critics Award) at the Cannes Film Festival, and has recently been nominated for the 2004 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Speaking for myself, I first noticed American Splendor in the summer of 2003 when after looking at a website for movie trailers, saw a title for a trailer called "American Splendor." Curiosity bit me and I checked the trailer out. I thought it was amazing. I wanted to see it very badly but it wasn't playing anywhere near me. In October, I did the next best thing and purchased the book American Splendor: The Life & Times Of Harvey Pekar at college which presented a huge selection of some of the best of the American Splendor comics. Eager for more, I purchased the soundtrack for the film and found myself immersed in a variety of Harvey Pekar's own hand picked jazz instrumentals and classic R & B hits including Marvin Gaye's Ain't That Peculiar and Jay McShann's Blue Devil Jump. With only a month or two before the film wound its way to DVD shelves, I purchased American Splendor: The Official Shooting Script and read through it picking out little niches and such that I easily related to.
Now, I own the DVD of American Splendor which made its debut February 3, 2004. It is a truly remarkable film that I am happy to have as my own to cherish forever. I still find it amazing that even though Harvey Pekar's comic had been around since 1978, I only stepped into his world in June of 2003, and have enjoyed every minute of it. Harvey Pekar, you truly are a wonderful writer and as far as life goes, I truly believe in what you say, "Ordinary life is pretty complex stuff."
Summary of American Splendor
Based on the life and work of underground comic book writer Harvey Pekar- a prickly poet of the mundane who knows that all the strategizing in the world can't save a guy from picking the wrong supermarket checkout line.One of the most acclaimed films of 2003, American Splendor is also one of the most audaciously creative biographical movies ever made. Blending fact, fiction, and personal perspective from the comic books that inspired it, this marvelous portrait of Harvey Pekar--scowling curmudgeon, brow-beaten everyman, insightful chronicler of his own life, and frustrated file clerk at a Cleveland V.A. hospital--is an inspired amalgam of the media (comic books, TV, and film) that lifted Pekar from obscurity to the status of a pop-cultural icon. As played by Paul Giamatti in a master-stroke of casting, we see Pekar and his understanding wife (played by Hope Davis) as underdogs in a world full of obstacles, yet also infused with subtle hope and (gasp!) heartwarming perseverance. We also see the real Pekar, and this multifaceted commingling of "reel" and "real" turns American Splendor into a uniquely cinematic celebration of Pekar's life and, by extension, the tenacity of an unlikely American hero. --Jeff Shannon
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