: American Splendor
This is an excellent film about the life of Harvey Pekar, the ultimate ordinary Joe, whose mundane life was made into the American Splendor comic book series. What’s fascinating is that this is a combination of drama and documentary. We actually meet multiple Harvey Pekars: there’s the various cartoon drawings (portrayed by the many different artists who illustrate the comic), the real guy, and the actor who plays him in the movie. These various versions are blurred together. We cut from a comic drawing to the real or actor version, watch the actor and listen to the real guy narrarating, etc. It’s a wonderful technique because it allows us to know all the Harvey Pekars and thereby understanding the whole man better. The story is pretty much chronological: we see Harvey at his dead-end job as a file clerk, watch him meet artist Bob Crumb, see the comic book become a success, follow the story of Harvey meeting and marrying his wife (after knowing her for less than a week), and endure his battle with cancer. The whole thing is marvelously done. My only complaint is that ultimately we aren’t enriched by the process. Harvey seems like a decent ordinary guy, and it’s fun meeting the man behind the cartoon, but Harvey’s so ordinary and his morose attitude on life is so depressing that not much is to be gained by our experience with him. We’re just listening to a guy whine about his misery for decades, never once doing a thing to get off his ass and do something about it. Granted, that’s what his story is all about, and I suppose fans of the comic like that and would therefore like this film better. I found it interesting from a sociological viewpoint, and the presentation was fascinating, but I don’t want to spend any more time with Harvey than I already have.
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