American Splendor

Year: 2003

Grade: B

Country: USA

Director: Berman

Review

a movie based upon a comic book which is based upon the real life of harvey pekar, a comic book artist. i think that the most noteworthy aspect of the film is the way they layered real documentary footage of harvey pekar, archived footage (like his interviews with david letterman), and comic book illustrations with the acted part of the film. most of it was acted (rather well), but there was plenty of overlapping from the other sources that made the film a sort of pastiche representation of harvey pekar. it was more than just a novel device though. it took the represented image of pekar to the next level. without getting into a philosophical discussion of the reality of representing someone within film or other media, let it suffice to say that we can’t ever really know pekar and the film sort of played on that, while (almost paradoxically) deepening our understanding of who he is. since, up to this point, we’ve only know of him through the letterman show and his comics, it makes sense that a film be made to add another dimension of understanding to this man. i don’t know if those last couple lines made sense. let me give a longer explanation. harvey pekar writes a comic book about his life, but he’s a shitty artist so he has r. crumb illustrate it. but he also has a bunch of other people illustrate it. so, depending upon the artist, pekar looks like a monster or hermit or a Brando-esque hero. the same could be said about documentary filmmakers (read my derrida review below). this film acknowledges the limitations of a fictionalized representation of a man. to some, val kilmer is more jim morrison than jim morrison is because they have only experienced morrison through his music and the fictionalized representation known as oliver stone’s “the doors.” in american splendor the filmmakers are mostly working within “the doors” mold. however they also include archival footage of the real harvey pekar, as well as comic book illustrations of harvey pekar interacting with the actor (giamatti) who portrays pekar, as well as interviews with the real harvey pekar about the making of the film itself. it’s a form of vertical integration within film. as a french fry business might own every aspect of the production and selling of french fries (from the potato farms to the processing plants to the packaging factories to the distribution), this film integrates every step of the creation of a representation of a person into the film. still clear as mud. oh well. in terms of how it was made, i don’t think i’ve seen anything like it. beyond that, it’s a fine film. giamatti is really good, the soundtrack works well for the character and, though it didn’t bring me to tears, the story is compelling enough.