like everyone else, i loved it. what can you do?
and i hate cheesy, predictable disney films. although it's a feel good type of movie, it's not a disney film. it's not sappy. it tugs at the heart strings, but it doesn't do it in a predictable, cookie-cutter kind of way. the hero doesn't have to win at the end. the story's not about that. it doesn't trick you into all sorts of sentimental corners. of course you know the story, but ... ah: what this movie has that so few movies have these days, and it has it in spades, is heart. and that's where the truth, and the power, of this film lies.
as everyone will tell you, the magic happens between the frames. it's not in the story. it's not in the plot details. it's in the actors, and in the wonderful storytelling (and the beautiful Randy Newman score). what Gary Ross did with this film is he let it ebb and flow. the two hours and twenty minutes are extremely well spent. i didn't even want it to end! i wanted it to just go on and on.
i dozed off in the middle of the film (my fault, not the film's; i was dead tired) for a good twenty-five minutes. for me to then wake up and manage to be so moved by it (seriously - i went into tiny uncontrollable spasms and sobbed - twice, for fuck's sake!) is, i think, a testament to the strength of this film.
(and you gotta give it up for William H Macy. give the man four minutes and he gets you all excited in no time :)
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AMERICAN SPLENDOR :: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini :: 2003
this is one sick, twisted biography. and i loved it!
i loved the misery, and even though Harvey appears to be an affable character, you can see that there's a highly intelligent character behind it, with a sharp wit, conscious of most of what is happening to him. he comes close to wallowing in his own misery a couple of times but the directors never let it become a self-pitying, or narcissistic, portrait.
i loved how they managed to successfully tie in both fiction and non-fiction into this tale of Harvey Pekar's "miserable" existence. i loved the tone of it, the humor. these guys got it right. they got the scathing humor and the raw honesty of its main character. it's all here. i never did manage to care for Ghost World. these guys should've made it. now i hear that they're getting Young Bride of Frankenstein on track. good for them! with this, and Peter Jackson's King Kong, it seems the right people are finally getting their due in hollywood. i guess good work and great taste can pay off.
i don't have much to say about the film in particular, other than i enjoyed it, laughed out loud at 1 in the morning, and liked Paul Giamatti's performance as Harvey. it was a gamble, though, to put the the real Harvey and Paul's character nearly side-by-side from the very beginning, but it doesn't take long before you fall for Giamatti's performance and forget about the challenge of his task.
aside from what i felt was a rushed ending, this film deservedly goes into my top three favorite films of 2003.
Posted by Anonymous | 9:26 PM
