True Films 3.0 - Kevin Kelly

American Splendor
This odd work is a mixture of documentary film about an eccentric cartoonist,
spliced into dramatic reliving of his life by actors, mixed in with
scenes where both the cartoonist and his family interact with the actors
playing them. Very post-modern, but it kinda works. The odd cartoonist is
Harvey Pekar, a downbeat, depressed, obsessive curmudgeon, who was
an early friend of Robert Crumb (they met at a garage sale collecting old
jazz records). Pekar’s memoir of his life as a blue-collar hospital file clerk
was illustrated by Crumb as a comic book series, catapulting Pekar into
hip coolness. And hence this film. Pekar and his incredibly ultra-geeky
friends and family make a very offbeat story.
By Shari Springer Berman
and Robert Pulcini
2003, 101 min.
Available from Amazon
Rent from Netflix
Despite, or because
of, his confrontational
nature, Harvey Pekar
became a frequent guest
of David Letterman.
The real Harvey Pekar talks to his real nerdy friend while their actor counterparts chat in the background on the set.
The real Harvey Pekar sits at his station in the hospital filing room while his studio counterpart sits on stage.
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