Review of American Splendor (2003) by Dan S — 03 Sep 2009
Pekar as Pekar, Giamatti as Pekar, cinema actor as theatre actor as Pekar, 1,2,3,4,5 cartoons as Pekar; American Splendor does an amazing job of both telling the central Splendor story and the bigger story of Splendor.
The film remains warm and funny whilst dealing with cancer, loneliness, impossible relationships, disillusionment. Like Escaping the Void, it benefits from the external narration that lets us know the main character survives without intruding on the twists and turns of the central narrative.
Splendor reminds us we are all characters in eachother's stories and wives, girlfriends, Crumb, colleagues are all perfectly realised from Pekar/ cartoonist/ scriptwriter's perspectives. A film as a framed cartoon, beautiful.
This review of American Splendor (2003) was written by Dan S on 03 Sep 2009.
American Splendor has generally received very positive reviews.
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