American Splendor
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Movie Reviews of American Splendor
Movie Review: In the words of Harvey Pekar ordinary life is pretty complex
Summary: 5 Stars
I have a tendency to embrace films that celebrate post-modernism in a creative way, which is exactly what "American Splendor" does in telling the story of Harvey Pekar, the legendary writer of the underground comic of the same name. Once upon a time, in the 1970s in fact, Pekar met the equally legendary comic book artist R. Crumb and complained that comic books were never about ordinary schleps like him. The idea appealed to Crumb, and thus wa born "American Splendor," written by Pekar and illustrated by Crumb and others. In this 2003 film written and directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini we are treated to not only a cinematic depiction of Pekar (Paul Giamatti), but of the man himself and the comic book version as well (sometimes at the same time). This makes sense because the film is about both Pekar's life and his comic book, and the comic book was about his life, so moving back and forth between the two would be the way to go. What else would you expect from a film, which is art, about life imitating art (and visa versa). Pekar's life is a curious combination of pessimism and honesty. We are not surprised when he never gets promoted at work or when he gets testicular cancer because this seems to be the lot life has given Pekar. However, we are surprised when a fan who works at a comic book store, Joyce Brabner (Hope Davis), makes contact with him hoping he has an extra copy of an issue of "American Splendor" that she missed. She comes for a visit, curious to see which version of Pekar in the comic book is most like the real one. His immediate reaction is to tell her, "You might as well know right off the bat, I had a vasectomy." Her response later in their date, after a severe attack of food poisioning, is to announce, "I think we should skip the whole courtship thing and just get married."
This is my kind of love story.
If we are not sure that Harvey and Joyce are made for each other, their ability to coexist is confirmed when the real Harvey and Joyce comment on the proceedings in the film. Giamatti and Davis both achieve the level of performance where they are simply inhabiting the characters, which is the best way of making them real. That is important, because there is no more of a sense of plot to "American Splendor" the movie than there was to "American Splendor" the comic book. Pekar's life is a series of clashes, sometimes with David Letterman on late night television, sometimes with the other people at the hospital where he is a file clerk, and sometimes with himself.
The great irony is that underground comic books were an alternative to the superhero comic books of D.C. and Marvel, yet in many ways "American Splendor" follows the standard superhero model. Eventually Howard the Duck made his way to Cleveland, but clearly the city dismissed as the armpit of the nation already had its own superhero in Pekar. The point that his life was less than ordinary is driven home repeatedly and ultimately the great appeal of this film is that it tells about an ordinary life in such a unique way.
Movie Review: The agony and the ecstasy
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the movie biography of the cartoonist Harvey Pekar who literally turned suffering into in art form.
Pekar is a lovable curmudgeon who always seems to see impending doom on the horizon and a cloud in every silver lining yet we cannot help but find Harvey Pekar to be a really lovable guy.
He lives in an apartment in Cleveland that he never seems to clean with his prized collection of Jazz records.
Pekar's cartoons have had a cult following for a while and take the form of autobiography, an autobiography of a common man, an "everyman", and the annoyances of everyday modern life which he encounters. The comics are done in somewhat of a tongue-in-cheek, insightful and some times a sarcastic style of humor that elevates the boredom and misery of life to an almost mystical perspective.
The film takes us from his youth, his friendship with R. Crumb, his love of old Jazz, the relationship with his wife, his day job as a filing clerk at the local hospital VA and the nuts and bolts of his work as an underground cartoonist where Harvey where we see him writing the dialogue and drawing stick figures that are later elaborated on by various artists (including Crumb). Also followed in this movie is his sudden success when he is "discovered" , his bout with cancer and the adoption of their daughter.
It gives a character sketch of someone to whom life has not exactly been kind but we also get the feeling that Pekar has done a good job sabotaging himself all along the way. You might actually find yourself asking yourself why Pekar sabotages himself as he does and the answer, if this is a true portrayal of the man, might be because he suffers from too much integrity.
The movie is done in a very creative style with Paul Giamatti playing Pekar through out the movie with Pekar himself showing up in and out of the movie in interviews on the set and film clips of his appearances on the Leterman show as well as some animation and of course close ups of some of the cells of Harvey's comics.
The casting of Giamatti was perfect and the actor pulls off the portrayal of Pekar supurbly and with ease.
The portrayal of the blossoming relationship with his wife is particularly touching and is quite sentimental for a guy who seems to take pride in being anything but sentimental.
Pekar finally being recognized as a social critic and artist of merit is taken as a mixed blessing by Harvey in true Pekar fashion and yet Harvey is seen as being pulled dragging and kicking through the hype.
Whether or not this indeed a true portrayal of the man the Harvey Pekar of this movie come across as being a many of integrity.
His struggle with cancer is told with honesty and in it we see our anti-hero as someone who is quite heroic.
A very entertaining movie about a real character.
Included with the DVD is a mini-comic book which I found quite delightful.
Jim Connell "Hallstatt Prince"
Movie Review: Creative Adaptation of Harvey Pekar's "Reality Comics".
Summary: 5 Stars
Perhaps it isn't surprising that "American Splendor" is the most creative and quirky film of 2003, considering it is based on an underground comic book that has entertained readers with its cynical but oddly amusing depiction of the life of Harvey Pekar, file clerk and all around working class stiff, since 1976. Frustrated by the obscurity and general lack of impact that his humdrum life provided him, Harvey decided that documenting it might be the way to overcome life's fleeting nature. But Harvey couldn't draw a straight line. So "American Splendor" was illustrated at first by Harvey's friend, underground comic icon Robert Crumb, and later by a succession of other artists. So for the past 28 years as of this writing, Harvey Pekar has documented his daily life in comics. He portrays his own anxieties and frustrations, his marriage, his friends, his co-workers, and his rise to fame frankly and without artifice. "American Splendor" is "reality comics".Writer/directors Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman have transformed "American Splendor" and "Our Cancer Year", a comic series that Pekar wrote with this wife Joyce Brabner, into a coherent offbeat film. Paul Giamatti portrays Harvey Pekar, and Hope Davis is his wife Joyce. Earl Billings gives a terrific supporting performance as Harvey's boss, Mr. Boats, as does Judah Friedlander as his co-worker Toby Radloff. The story is told through conventional cinematography, comic strips, and interviews with Harvey, Joyce, and Toby, filmed like a documentary against a comic-like set. In keeping with the sprit of his comics, we see the movie Harvey, and we meet the real Harvey. The directors' ability to adapt such lengthy and eccentric material and to bring so many different styles together without it seeming at all disjointed is a real credit to their talent. If it seems hard to fathom why people would read a comic book about life's more mundane qualities for decades, the film "American Splendor" leaves little doubt about the entertainment value of that material on screen.
The DVD: Bonus features include a featurette entitled "Road to Splendor", which follows Harvey and his family as they accompany this film from the Sundance Film Festival, to the Cannes Film Festival, to Comic-Con, and then on to "American Splendor"'s world premiere; the film's title song "American Splendor" by Eytan Mirsky; a DVD-ROM (Windows only) that contains downloadable wallpapers and screensavers; a theatrical trailer; and an audio commentary by Harvey Pekar, Joyce Brabner, Toby Radloff, Danielle Patone (Harvey & Joyce's adopted daughter), Paul Giamatti, and writer/directors Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman. The audio commentary combines the personal experiences of the real characters in Harvey's world with technical information from the filmmakers. It's pretty interesting, but sometimes it is difficult to keep track of who is talking, as is so often the case when an audio commentary is done by a group. And this is the largest group yet I have heard on an audio commentary.
Movie Review: A totally new and exciting way to look at moviemaking...
Summary: 5 Stars
Creating something real, unreal, familiar yet completely original; directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini pulled out all the stops with `American Splendor', one of the most innovative and unforgettable biopics I've ever seen. Ingeniously mixing real life with reel life, `American Splendor' may turn off a few viewers, but for those of you willing to give it some time it will truly open your eyes to the endless possibilities of cinema. With brilliant casting, stunning script work and truly remarkable craftsmanship, `American Splendor' will definitely be an unforgettable cinematic experience.
Who ever thought that comic books could be so influential?
The life of comic book hero Harvey Pekar is told with vivacious tenacity in this multilayered biopic that exposes his human personality as well as his alter ego. With a knack for fleshing out the truth in life, Pekar created something that no one else had even attempted, and in the process he created a following I don't think he even understood. Starting with the conception of his comic and moving forward through his strange marriage and odd social skills, not to mention some inevitable health issues; `American Splendor' never loses its grasp on what makes this film so fresh and whimsical.
Thanks to some inspired casting, this film nails just about every punch.
Let's talk about Paul Giamatti for a minute. I remember in 2004 when `Sideways' was released and everyone started screaming Oscar and talking about how Giamatti's performance was just too good. I remember seeing the film and falling out of my chair (figuratively) because for the first time the hype was correct. He was `that' good. Then the inevitable snub came and it wasn't until the following year when he hammed it up for Ron Howard that he received an Oscar nomination (please note that, while I say `hammed' it up, I am not really insulting his performance, which I enjoyed, but merely stating that sometimes you have to create a caricature for Oscar to pay you any attention). Around that time I started hearing about this film. Personally I hadn't heard anything about it until then, and honestly I didn't see the film until last weekend, but the seed was planted.
This performance, believe it or not, is even BETTER than the one he delivered in `Sideways'.
Capturing this man in all variations of his persona (and brilliantly meshing with the `real' Pekar who appears in the film as well as the animated versions), Giamatti is a full-figured representation of a truly inspired characterization. He understands the lows, the highs and everything in between, completely realizing his characters potential. He's so good that I barely noticed the rest of the cast, even when they were working magic as well (especially Hope Davis, who is criminally underrated in the world of cinema).
As a whole I strongly recommend this film to any fan of the biopic, the human drama, the dramedy, Giamatti or comic books...UGH, I recommend it to everyone since this is really what cinema is all about.
Movie Review: Harvey Pekar: Exceptional Life of an Ordinary Guy
Summary: 5 Stars
If you have never heard of the comic book series 'American Spledor' or its creator Harvey Pekar, you don't have to worry. All you have to know is that slightly ironically-titled 'American Splendor' offers very unique account of a life of a man in Cleveland who made it by just being himself, working as a file clerk in local hospital. The only thing he did was to observe his ordinary life, and made it a comic book. And a quite original one.
These things are all brilliantly told in this film, which is a curious blend of fiction and non-fiction. Paul Giamatti plays Harvey Pekar, jazz record collector who is not satisfied with his ordinary life. One day Pekar meets a future underground comic genius Robert Crumb (who is perhaps known for the design for Janis Joplin album 'Cheap Thrills'). Crumb acknowledges an unique talent of Pekar who can bring life to the apparently humdrum things surrounding our ordinary life, and provides the drawings for him.
The collaboration 'American Splendor' brings unexpected things to his life: one of them is Joyce Brabner, fan of his comics who comes to meet and marry him. Joyce, 'vegitarian who is allegic to vegitables,' played by fantastic Hope Davis (with a pair of big-rimmed glasses) is another charm to this film, who holds her own despite the messy room of Pekar.
The film's bonus point is that it portrays Pekar's life in an unusual way, narrated by Pekar himself, who often appears on the screen, even sharing it with Giamatti himself. Joyce herself also appears, who, even during a short time, gives us a strong impression that she is quite a character. And so is Pekar.
But the greatest thing about 'American Splendor' is that it succeeds in showing the personalities of these people without much dramatizing them. These people are not perfect, sure, and Paul Giamatti's Pekar always looks very angry. But that is part of the charms of the film, which ultimately affirms the values of life. And the characters depicted here are the genuine ones.
Paul Giamatti is superb as Pekar, though he doesn't seem to have changed much. More brilliant is Hope Davis, who undergoes a perfect transformation, and shows an uncanny resemblance to the real Joyce. And she is curiously charming, which explains why they fell in love in the way the film shows (it starts with letter writing).
You don't see all-American heroes, or hear any sentimental words here. You just meet very interesting, and likable people about whom you want to know more. And 'American Splendor' gives you a chance to meet them, and make you think about the thin line between ordinary and extraordinary.