A tale of ordinary madness.
American Splendor' is based on the autobiographical comics written by Harvey Pekar and illustrated by many celebrated 'underground' comics artists. Pekar's stories of everyday blue-collar life (Until his recent retirement he was a mailroom clerk in a hospital) have sat next to Batman and X-Men titles in Comic Shops for the best part of thirty years now. Pekar also found minor celebrity as an occasional guest on David Letterman's show until an infamous incident - dramatised in this film - where he let rip with a particularly pointed attack on NBC's connections with arms dealing and what he saw as his own exploitation by Letterman for comedy value. The film dramatises segments from Pekar's life, including a wonderful mid-sixties moment, when he meets a fellow Jazz enthusiast by the name of 'Bob' Crumb, along with scenes taken straight from the comic book itself. These are intercut with interview segments by the directors with Pekar, his wife and collaborator Joyce Brabner and workmates. Paul Giamatti, who plays Pekar in the dramatised scenes, is an extremely credible Pekar. although he's a bit chubbier and less abrasive than the real thing, the mannerisms and, crucially, the voice (Pekar himself narrates many of the scenes) are dead ringers for the man himself. A moment when the real Pekar and his mailroom colleague Toby Radloff (Who deserves a comic book, not to mention a movie all to himself) are chatting with the actors who portray them cracking up in the background is both disorientating and strangely moving. By it's very nature the film is a slow burner. Being an adaptation of a work about the minutae of everyday life, the mundane and the struggle to just get up each morning (Something Pekar claims was a particular effort for his wife) it isn't exactly filled with action. But 'American Splendor' is a delightful and touching tale of a man who's very ordinariness makes him a unique voice. Pekar comes across as a, slightly cleaner living, Bukowski. Or maybe Homer Simpson (There's an uncanny physical resemblance). 'American Splendor' itself is an accomplished piece of film making that isn't showy about it's complex intertextual structure. Plus it's refreshing to see that with the current boom in Comic book movie adaptations there seems to be room for some of the more 'obscure' titles out there to make it to the big screen. 'Love And Rockets' anyone? If you're a fan of Terry Zwigoff's films I guarantee you're going to love it!