Crumb

• Director: Terry Zwigoff
• AMG Rating:
• Genre: Culture & Society
• Movie Type: Graphic & Applied Arts, Interpersonal Relationships
• Themes: Life in the Arts, Eccentric Families, Tortured Genius
• Main Cast: Charles Crumb, Maxon Crumb, Robert Crumb, Aline Kominsky
• Release Year: 1994
• Country: US
• Run Time: 119 minutes
• MPAA Rating: R

Plot

So well-regarded was the documentary Crumb (1994) that the failure of it and of the same year's equally acclaimed Hoop Dreams (1994) to result in Oscar nominations caused a media furor which forced the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to revamp its documentary nomination process. Robert Crumb is a respected but controversial underground comic book artist and writer whose creations include the popular "Keep on Truckin'" and Fritz the Cat (1972). Crumb's adult subject matter includes weird sexual obsessions, social criticism, and personal, confessional observations about abnormal human psychology. The genesis and meaning of Crumb's work is explained through a series of interviews with his colleagues, former lovers, and especially family members, which reveal a horrific upbringing that has crippled both Crumb and his siblings -- but has also fueled the artist's groundbreaking work. A long-time friend of the film's subject, director Terry Zwigoff followed Crumb (1994) with another comic book-related project, Ghost World (2000), a drama based on a story from the anthology series "Eightball" by Daniel Clowes. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Review

Filmmaker Terry Zwigoff was able to make Crumb because of his friendship with the subject, but the film is definitely not hagiography. Because much of the artist's work is so personal, any study of Robert Crumb must take into account his prickly and decidedly randy personality. Zwigoff also had a great sense of timing, catching Crumb in a bit of a mid-life crisis, as he decamps from his longtime home in California to the south of France. The energy of the 1960s which fueled some of Crumb's most celebrated art has long ago dissipated, and when Crumb convincingly disavows being identified with that tumultuous time (he hates rock music, preferring to listen to his collection of blues music on original 78 rpm vinyl), you sense that he's a man who has been out of step all his life. Rather than merely depict the symptoms of Crumb's worried mind, Zwigoff includes enormously effective interview material with two of Robert's brothers (one of whom died after film was completed). Few filmmakers are allowed that kind of privileged look into their subjects' upbringing, and the brothers' recollections of their childhood and ruminations on their blighted lives suggest that art provided Robert with a reasonably effective way of dealing with past traumas. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide

Cast

Robert Hughes - Art Critic; Robert Crumb - Himself; Aline Kominsky; Charles Crumb; Maxon Crumb

Credit

Neal Halfon - Co-producer, Terry Zwigoff - Director, Victor Livingston - Editor, Lianne Halfon - Executive Producer, Albert Berger - Executive Producer, Lawrence Wilkinson - Executive Producer, Michael Chin - Camera Operator, Jon Else - Camera Operator, Tomas Tucker - Camera Operator, Ashley James - Camera Operator, Kyle Kibbe - Camera Operator, Maryse Alberti - Cinematographer, David Lynch - Producer, Lynn O'Donnell - Producer, Terry Zwigoff - Producer, Scott Breindel - Sound/Sound Designer

Similar Movies

Comic Book Confidential; Gates of Heaven; Nico-Icon; Timothy Leary's Dead; Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist; Private Parts; Divine Trash; Pretty as a Picture: The Art of David Lynch; Plaster Caster; Stone Reader; Tarnation; The Confessions of Robert Crumb; In the Realms of the Unreal; Animal Love; The Devil and Daniel Johnston; Tales of the Rat Fink; Who the $#%& is Jackson Pollock?; Unauthorized and Proud of It: Todd Loren's Rock 'N' Roll Comics

• Artist: Original Soundtrack
• Rating:
• Release Date: May 30, 1995
• Type: Soundtrack
• Genre: Soundtrack

Review

The poster art for Crumb has a caricature of Robert Crumb (drawn by the artist himself) with a gun held to the back of his head. Robert Crumb's life is, it seems, just that -- perverse, violent, disturbing. Yet there's a genteel element to it, too, which we find described in the genteel music used for the film -- a collection of early jazz and ragtime pieces, most of them performed by pianist David Boeddinghaus and guitarist Craig Ventresco, with a few items drawn from old 78 rpm sides. The overall effect is on the sweet and befuddled side, the charming inverse of Crumb's life, and reflective of Crumb's passion for this music (he founded the Cheap Suit Serenaders, a band devoted to this kind of music). Just beware of one thing -- the album runs over seventy minutes and includes a plethora of cuts, none of which have track numbers anywhere on the sleeve, reducing the listener to a counting job. This is a minor complaint, however. ~ Steven McDonald, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Ragtime Nightingale	Joseph Lamb
Sensation Rag	Joseph Lamb
Harlem Strut	James P. Johnson
Abraham Jefferson Washington Lee
Belle of Phillippines	Fred Hager
Last Kind Word Blues
Radiator Cap Blues	Craig Ventresco
Gabby Glide Medley
Frog-I-More Rag	Jelly Roll Morton
Cocaine	Dick Justice
Won't You Fondle Me Medley: Won't You Fondle Me/Jessamine/My Tiger ...
Pass the Jug	Frank Melrose
Skinny Leg Dues
Buffalo Rag	Tom Turpin
35th Street Blues
Mabel's Dream	Ike Smith
Wall Street Rag	Scott Joplin
Hateful Blues	Craig Ventresco
A Real Slow Drag	Scott Joplin
Comic Montage Stomp	David Boeddinghaus, Craig Ventresco
Someday, Sweetheart	Benjamin Franklin Spikes, John Spikes
Rag Pickings
Black Diamond Rag	Henry Lodge
Ragtime Nightingale	Joseph Lamb

Credits

Terry Zwigoff (Liner Notes), David Boeddinghaus (Piano), Craig Ventresco (Guitar)

• Genres: Rock
• Representative Albums: "Romance Is a Slow Dance," "Seconds, Minutes, Hours," "Organic Machine"

Biography

The San Francisco alternative rock band Crumb was formed in 1993 by vocalist Robby Cronholm and guitarist Mark Weinberg, longtime friends who first began writing and performing together while still in high school. After playing their earliest shows as an acoustic duo, Crumb soon swelled to a quartet, with any number of bassists and drummers passing through their ranks; in 1994, after self-releasing the LP Happy Blah, the group welcomed bassist Matt Powell before signing to Qwest Records to cut their 1996 major label debut Romance Is a Slowdance. With new bassist Jim Bowser and drummer Mike Dugan, Crumb resurfaced in 1998 with ...seconds, minutes, hours..., their first record for the Red Ant label. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide

Seconds, Minutes, Hours Buy this CD

Romance Is a Slow Dance Buy this CD

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)