Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: American Splendor

This is topic American Splendor in forum Film Handlers' Movie Reviews at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=4;t=000632

Posted by Gerard S. Cohen (Member # 994) on 08-29-2003, 11:58 PM:

At the Cinemart Theatre I in Forest Hills, NY, 08/29/03
Screened without any trailers or snipes. Attendance 45.

This screen biography of the cartoon writer Harvey Pekar dissolves images of the real cartoonist with those of actor Paul Giamatti who plays him, and with sketched frames of him by Robert Crumb and others. It's realistic and satirical, with offbeat characters, and reminded me of the humor of Woody Allen films.

The lonely characters with all their imperfections generate incongruous dialog that sent ripples of laughter through the auditorium, from the various generations whose life experiences must have caused them to respond. So sometimes the young laughed, and at other times, the elderly tittered.

There's sadness in the lives of the characters, and my wife hesitated to choose this film, since two of my in-laws are undergoing chemo-therapy for terminal cancer. While this theme
forms an important part of the film, the result is realistic but not morbid.

Posted by Brad Haven (Member # 954) on 09-02-2003, 10:35 PM:

GO SEE THIS FILM...NOW!!!

what gerard said, plus heaps more praise! (i wont bore you with my poor english!)

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 09-21-2003, 09:29 PM:

What Gerard and Brad said. It's a good film. Go see it. Now.

Posted by Pravin Ratnam (Member # 1417) on 09-29-2003, 06:37 PM:

A nice little movie. Paul Giamatti may finally get the recognition he deserves. The guy just has a "can't ignore" type presence on the screen. While Harvey Pekar character may not seem like a big stretch for Giamatti, there were enough subtle changes that I noticed that merits Paul G. an Oscar nomination. The buggin out eyes from his previous movies are gone and Paul exudes this tired look.

Hope Davis is good. A lot of good doppelgangers were cast.
At first, i thought I might find the constant switch between the real Harvey Pekar and Paul Giamatti might get annoying, but it didn't. That is a testament to Paul's work in the movie.

It does not try to sugarcoat Harvey. THe lack of a patronizing tone is the movie's main strength. A lot of characters are presented in a non judgemental light. It is left to you to feel how you wanna feel. Don't go expecting some masterpiece. Give the movie a chance, and watch it in a relaxed mood, and you will enjoy it. And the comic book framing approach used in Hulk is used to better effect here.

Posted by Aldo Baez (Member # 790) on 10-01-2003, 01:02 AM:

I think this is a better movie than Lost in Translation. With the real life Harvey and the comics mixed into the movie alot of things could have come off wrong or bad but everything is mixed in just perfect. I felt like I truly knew who Harvey Pekar was after the movie, my image of him was not from an actor playing him, but from himself. [thumbsup]