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American Splendor

Last night I saw American Splendor which stars Paul Giamatti as underground comic-book writer and full-time pessimist Harvey Pekar.

I didn’t know much bout Harvey Pekar before reading about this movie, but I saw the trailer on Apple’s website a while ago and was immediately interested.  I’m a fan of Robert Crumb and I loved the documentary about his life, which I’ve seen countless times, so I was amazed when the actor portraying Crumb in the trailer spoke and gave a dead-on impersonation.

Narrated by the real Pekar, the movie chronicles our hero as the grouchy everyman and how, through working as a file clerk in a hospital, he became a hit writer of underground autobiographical comics titled American Splendor.

It’s a great picture for anyone interested in underground and alternative comics.  Its humour and inventiveness, however, allow it to appeal to anyone whether they’ve read comics or not.  With its novel way of incorporating the real-life counterparts of the actors portraying them on screen (particularly worthy of note is when Harvey makes several appearances on David Letterman, and we see the real Harvey when minutes before going on stage we saw Harvey as played by Giamatti), American Splendor is unlike any biopic you’ve ever seen.  It’s part documentary, part comedy, part drama.  A docudramedy?

Visually the film adopts several comic book style conventions, such as panels and “Meanwhile...” titles.  There are also several moments with limitedly animated illustrations that even have the texture of newsprint which is a nice touch.

The film’s ending is a bit saccharine, but it works.  Harvey Pekar is not a likeable guy (heck, he barely likes himself), but he’s very captivating, and I find myself liking him regardless.

I’m certainly going to check out some of his comics now, and eagerly await the movie’s release on DVD.