American Splendor

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AMG AllMovie Guide:

American Splendor

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Plot

The documentary directing team of Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman makes their narrative feature debut with the biographical comedy drama American Splendor. Harvey Pekar (Paul Giamatti) is a comic book writer inspired by the work of his friend Robert Crumb (James Urbaniak). Pekar writes his comics about the sad monotony of everyday life, based on his own life in Cleveland, OH, working as a file clerk at a veteran's hospital and spending his time reading books and listening to jazz. He meets up with Joyce Brabner (Hope Davis) and they enjoy a depressive relationship together. The filmmakers employ a combination of live-action film, video, and animation, including narration and commentary from the real-life Harvey Pekar. The screenplay was based on Pekar's comic book series American Splendor, which he has been writing since 1976 on Dark Horse Comics, and the 1994 book-length comic Our Cancer Year, written by Pekar and Brabner. American Splendor won the Grand Jury Prize in the Dramatic Competition at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Review

The best thing about the film adaptation of American Splendor is that it captures Harvey Pekar's unique voice, and the comic book's bristly tone. This is no small feat. Directors/screenwriters Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini cannily integrate documentary footage of Pekar, his wife, Joyce Brabner, and others commenting on the film and the real events that the film depicts. A black-and-white animated version of Pekar also appears frequently. At one point, Pekar (Paul Giamatti) leaves Brabner (Hope Davis) in the green room to appear on David Letterman's show. Davis watches the monitor as actual footage of Pekar's appearance is seen on the monitor. The filmmakers sacrifice some narrative momentum with their technique, but it's well worth it because American Splendor ends up capturing Pekar in all his uncompromisingly grizzled glory in a way that a straightforward biopic wouldn't have. Pekar has always tried to avoid pandering to his audience, and to the filmmakers' credit, they don't try to soft-pedal him; even when dealing with a character's terminal illness, they avoid any kind of sentimentality. Giamatti delivers a wonderfully cranky performance in the title role, while Davis is dependably superb as the hypochondriac and insanely impulsive Brabner. James Urbaniak brings depth to what could have been a cartoonish role as comic book artist Robert Crumb, while Judah Friedlander is surprisingly spot-on as the genuinely cartoonish Toby Radloff, Pekar's longtime friend and co-worker. Pekar's brittle relationships with Brabner and Radloff set the tone for the film. These aren't lovable goofballs, so much as full-bodied characters of whom one's opinion changes, depending on how they're behaving in a particular scene. The filmmakers allow the viewer to make up his or her own mind about these complex people, and that is the best service they could have paid to Pekar's work. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Cast

Earl Billings - Mr. Boats; Joyce Brabner - Real Joyce; Madylin Sweeten - Danielle; James McCaffrey - Fred; Danielle Batone - Real Danielle; Maggie Moore - Alice Quinn

Credit

Twinkle - Animator, Julia King - Associate Producer, Ann Goulder - Casting, Michael Wilkinson - Costume Designer, Chip Signore - First Assistant Director, Shari Springer Berman - Director, Robert Pulcini - Director, Robert Pulcini - Editor, Mark Suozzo - Composer (Music Score), Linda Cohen - Musical Direction/Supervision, Therese DePrez - Production Designer, Terry Stacey - Cinematographer, Ted Hope - Producer, Robert Desue - Set Designer, Whit Norris - Sound/Sound Designer, Shari Springer Berman - Screenwriter, Robert Pulcini - Screenwriter, Nicholas Renbeck - Supervising Sound Editor, Twinkle - Visual Effects, Harvey Pekar - Book Author, Joyce Brabner - Book Author

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Wikipedia on Answers.com:

American Splendor (film)

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American Splendor

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Shari Springer Berman
Robert Pulcini
Produced by Ted Hope
Christine Kunewa Walker
Julia King
Declan Baldwin
Written by Shari Springer Berman
Robert Pulcini
Based on American Splendor and Our Cancer Year by
Harvey Pekar
Joyce Brabner
Starring Paul Giamatti
Hope Davis
Judah Friedlander
Music by Mark Suozzo
Cinematography Terry Stacey
Editing by Robert Pulcini
Studio Good Machine
Distributed by HBO Films
Fine Line Features
Release date(s)
  • January 20, 2003 (2003-01-20) (Sundance)
  • August 15, 2003 (2003-08-15) (United States)
Running time 100 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $2 million
Box office $7,986,084[1]

American Splendor is a 2003 American biographical comedy-drama film about Harvey Pekar, the author of the American Splendor comic book series. The film is also in part an adaptation of the comics, which dramatize Pekar's life. The film was written and directed by documentarians Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, who share writing credit with Pekar and his wife, Joyce Brabner.[2]

The film stars Paul Giamatti as Pekar and Hope Davis as Brabner. However, it also features appearances from Pekar and Brabner themselves (along with Toby Radloff), who discuss their lives, the comic books, and how it feels to be depicted onscreen by actors. It was filmed entirely on location in Cleveland and Lakewood in Ohio.[3]

Contents

Cast

Reception

American Splendor won the Grand Jury Prize for Dramatic Film at the Sundance Film Festival, in addition to the award for Best Adapted Screenplay from the Writers Guild of America. At the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, the film received the FIPRESCI (critics) award.[4] It was also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 2003 Academy Awards. The film has a 94% fresh rating of positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.

Columnist Jaime Wolf wrote a laudatory review of the film in Slate, also drawing attention to formal parallels with Woody Allen's Annie Hall and other Allen films.[5]

Pekar wrote about the effects of the film in American Splendor: Our Movie Year.

Awards and nominations

Won

Boston Society of Film Critics

  • Best Screenplay (Pulcini and Springer Berman)

Chicago Film Critics Association

  • Most Promising Filmmaker (Pulcini and Springer Berman)

Chlotrudis Awards

Los Angeles Film Critics Association

National Society of Film Critics

New York Film Critics Circle

  • Best Actress (Davis)
  • Best First Film

Writers Guild of America (WGA)

Nominated

Academy Awards

Chicago Film Critics Association

  • Best Actor (Giamatti)
  • Best Actress (Davis)
  • Best Film
  • Best Screenplay (Pulcini and Springer Berman)

Chlotrudis Awards

Golden Globe Awards

Satellite Awards

  • Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Giamatti)
  • Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Davis)
  • Best Director (Pulcini and Springer Berman)
  • Best Film – Musical or Comedy
  • Best Screenplay – Adapted (Pulcini and Springer Berman)

References

External links

Awards
Preceded by
Personal Velocity
Sundance Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic
2003
Succeeded by
Primer

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Copyrights:

Mentioned in

Genuine Nerd (2006 Film)
The Extra Man (2010 Comedy Film)
Harvey Pekar (Actor, Comedy Drama/Culture & Society)
Comic Books Unbound (2008 Language & Literature Film)
Earthscapes (1994 Nature Film)