American Splendor
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Movie Reviews of American Splendor
Movie Review: Superb indie film of underground comic hero
Summary: 5 Stars
This amazing movie is justly one of the best movies of 2003. I suspect its appeal is generational; for people who are not familiar with Robert Crumb's work, some of the film will not register.This is, loosely speaking, a close relative of "Crumb", the fascinating documentary of underground comic artist Robert Crumb and his tragically whacked out family. Robert Crumb, after reaching his apothesis in the underground comic movement of the early 1970s, wandered the bus stations and park benches to find his "everyman", the working stiff who understood Camus, obscure jazz records and could express firsthand the human condition of the the fileclearks and short-order graveyard cooks of Amerika.
In "American Spendor," we see how Crumb discovers Harvey Pekar, a self-recognized odd bodkin who bears the curse of recognizing his own condition as well as others around him. He can't draw, but when he meets up with Crumb, it is a marriage made in heaven. Pekar provides the stream of social commentary to merge with Crumb's dark realist and mysanthropic graphic style.(The actor playing Crumb has his mannerisms, down to the facial scratches, down perfectly).
Giamatti is a perfect Pekar, as the movie demonstrates with aplomb by interchanging scenes of Giammati and the real Pekar. Pekar is the file-room philosphe, a walking Beckett play, observing but incapable of bettering his lot. (Eventually, he skyrockets to kitsch fame as a repeat Letterman curiousity - his paranoic implosion in the final appearance is gently dealt with here).
Many objected to the scene where Giamatti (briefly playing himself ) observes an interaction between the real Pekar and the "Nerd", and can't help but laugh out loud. But Pekar takes it (as Robert Crumb does in his documentary), understanding he is different, and trudges through, glowering at someone's cosmic Bad Joke.
For anyone who has picked up a graphic novel or used to hide Crumb's comics under their mattress, I can't recommend this movie highly enough.
Recommendations of related films: "Crumb" (a must see), "Ghost World"
Movie Review: Splendid Poignancy
Summary: 5 Stars
What to make of this film? I asked myself that question after I emerged from the theater. Although in certain respects it reminded me of other documentaries (e.g. those produced by Frederick Wiseman and Michael Moore), it is quite unique and therefore, for me, difficult to discuss. Co-directed and co-written by Shari Springer-Berman and Robert Pulcini, American Splendor has a somewhat schizophrenic nature in that real people (Joyce and Harvey Pekar) interact with those cast to portray them (Hope Davis and Paul Giamatti) as Springer-Berman and Pulcini examine the life of a file clerk employed by a veterans hospital in Cleveland. Certain aspects of his life were previously portrayed in comic books which comprise the American Splendor series (illustrated by various people, including Robert Crumb played by James Urbaniak) and in Our Cancer Year (1994), co-authored by the Pekars. All this probably sounds much more complicated than it seems to be when seeing the film itself. The narrative wanders along from one episode to the next. Along the way, Joyce and Harvey meet and marry, bicker, pout, struggle with finances, work together, bicker some more, etc. After Harvey appears on David Letterman's television program, he gains some degree of celebrity. Intriguing to me is his steadfast refusal to compromise any of his cranky opinions, notably about the very media which attract public attention to him. Also impressive is the skill with which Springer-Berman and Pulcini coordinate the aforementioned interaction between real people and members of the film's cast. Throughout the course of the film, I sensed a tension between the two groups...most evident in Harvey's body language which suggests both distance and hostility. With regard to the quality of acting, it is consistently outstanding.
Earlier, I acknowledged the difficulty of discussing this film and my remarks thus far no doubt confirm that. So, rather than wander much further in this review, I will conclude with this observation: Imagine a film inspired by such diverse sources as John Bunyan, Franz Kafka, W.C Fields, Larry David, and the Simpsons.
Movie Review: Splendor Indeed!
Summary: 5 Stars
I didn't quite know what to expect when I heard that this film was a mixture of narrative, documentary and animated footage about an overweight depressive underground comic book writer. But it's not nearly as strange or sad I expected, it's actually quite funny and surprisingly straight-forward. I'd never heard of American Splendor before, but after watching the movie the first thing I did was rush out to buy the book. Paul Giametti and Hope Davis are both excellent and the real life Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner are also wonderful to watch. This movie turned out to be one of the best movies I've seen this year. This movie is a combination of a docudrama and a black comedy. Wickedly funny and very different. While other docudramas try to blend the actors and the real-life footage seemlessly, that's not done here. You totally accept the actor playing Harvey, the real Harvey, all the different cartoon Harvey's and the actor playing the actor Harvey, as being Harvey Pekar. In one scene, the real Harvey narates as the actor Harvey goes to see a play about his life, in which another actor plays the actor Harvey. Whew! And the real Harvey narrates about how weird it is to be watching the "movie" of this scene. In another scene, you can't believe Harvey and Toby are as weird as they seem, until the actors walk out of the movie onto the set, and you see the real Harvey and Toby interacting, and the actors are watching them. And then you realize that not only did the actors really "nail them" but the real guys are perhaps even weirder than they are portrayed. Joyce and Harvey's "date" is hysterical. All the scenes in the movie are framed like frames from the comic book. Very creative. And in the end, it all comes full circle, when Harvey writes a comic book about making the movie. It has been a long time since I have seen such a smart, engaging, moving, spryly written, wryly funny movie. You absolutely do not need to be aware of his work before seeing the movie, though if you are a fan, I am sure it would be all the more enjoyable. A great story and a great film!Movie Review: An Everyday Hero
Summary: 5 Stars
Harvey Pekar is a lot of things...a grump, a TV star, a low-level file clerk, a husband, a cult hero, an insecure shlump. Amazing, how a man can simultaneously embody the American Dream of fame and herodom, and the quiet desperation of everyday life."American Splendor" tells the tale of such a man perhaps in the only way to do him justice - by any means necessary. It's mostly told with actors, but sometimes we get to meet the real Harvey and his friends and family. Sometimes we see some crude but effective animation. Sometimes everything is mixed together. The amazing thing is that the approach never seems gimmicky or self-conscious - it seems honest. There's never a moment during Paul Giamatti's astounding portrayal of Harvey that we doubt his authenticity, and we aren't disoriented in the least when the real Harvey shows up.
The Harvey Pekar story, as told in "American Splendor," is deeply moving. Here's a guy with a soul but a bleak outlook, one who is cursed to see the futility and inanity of his own existence. What separates him from so many of his bretheren, though, and quite possibly saves his life, is that he finds an outlet when he chooses to document his life in comic-book form. One one hand, this decision leads to his status as an underground hero, Letterman regular, and movie subject. On another, his life doesn't get any better, even though he manages, amazingly, to find a wife who pretty much understands him, and a child who seems to be his match.
Harvey is difficult but impossible to dislike. You stick with him, even when he's being insufferable. That's true of the other characters in his life, played to perfection by Hope Davis as his wife, and Judah Friedlander as his ubernerd friend Toby. These are people who matter, and they deserve their voices, and "American Splendor" lets them speak, with enormously entertaining results.
I love movies like "American Splendor." Harvey is right - everyday life is pretty complex stuff. I'd rather watch a movie about guys like Pekar than 100 movies about hostage negotiations and falling rocks.
Movie Review: Unlike anything I've ever seen, and a masterpiece.
Summary: 5 Stars
Over the last few year Paul Giamatti has really been one of our best actors. From leading roles in this and Sideways, to a supporting role in Cinderella Man, he's showed greatness in variety. Of those roles the role in American Splendor was probably the toughest, because he had to play someone so unlike anyone else ever in a movie, in a movie so unlike any movie that I've ever seen. It's a biopic based on a true story, and so much more.
Harvey Pekar, played by Giomatti, is a frustrated, obsessive compulsive, secluded personality, whose meeting with legendary underground comic Robert Crumb causes him to get interested in writing, but not drawing, a series of comics, based very much on his life, by the name of American Splendor, that Crumb agrees to draw for. This series leads him to meet Joyce Babner, who he soon marries as both connect with their quirky personalities. More quirky than anyone is Tony Randolff, a self proclaimed nerd, and a plutonic friend of Harvey's. Eventually Pekar goes on David Letterman and makes a fool of himself. Pekar and Joyce deal with medical uncertainties, and eventually adopt a daughter. It's a great story, with great writing in and itself, but it's much more unusual that the typical great movie.
What makes this movie so unusual is it jumps between past characters playing the story of Pekar's life, to the present real life characters being themselves in a shooting studio. We can see how honestly the characters are played, unlike most biopics where we trust that the characters are played the way they were or are in life. This is a fun, sometimes dark, and always fascinating look at the life of someone many have never heard of before. Last decade one of my favorite documentaries was Crumb, and so far this decade American Splendor is one of my favorite films period. Yes I seem to be totally engross by the lives of quirky comic book writers and authors even more than the comics they write.