Crumb
2.5/4
Rated R for Graphic, Sex-Related Cartoons and Language
The problem with making a personal film is being too close to the material to see it objectively. "Schindler's List" was a hugely personal film for Steven Spielberg, but it worked because he was able to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Zwigoff isn't able to do that. He is so infatuated with Crumb that he is happy to listen to him merely talk about anything or draw. While some of what he shows of the artist is objective and he examines his most controversial work from all sides without judgement (this consequently is the most interesting material in the film), most of the film feels like hero worship, and that is exactly what not to do when creating a biopic. Such reverence can ruin pacing and/or lead to boredom, which is what happens here.
As I said earlier, Robert Crumb is an interesting individual. He's highly intelligent and his views on life and the world how he sees it are unusual and occasionally amusing. His need to draw is a lifeline from a troubled childhood, and his ability to express his deepest fears and hurts makes him easy to relate to even when he's giving voice to, or satirizing, deeply held prejudices. I felt like I understood how Crumb viewed the world to the point where if I ran into him on the street, I'd have a pretty good idea of what to expect.
Crumb is not always likable (his views on sex are strange and his cynicism towards just about everything is enough to annoy), but I was at least able to understand where he came from. Crumb is frank about his past and his views on the world, which allows us to get to know him. Some of what he said, like his experiences with high school bullies and the girls who favored the brutish Cro-Magnons as opposed to kind and sensitive guys like him, hits home. He is also very candid about his home-life, which was dysfunctional to the extreme (his mother was an amphetamine addict and his father was physically and emotionally abusive).
Zwigoff, who struggled to keep the film going and was suicidally depressed due to back pain, wants us to become emotionally attached to Crumb, but it's a tough sell. Crumb is too strange and too aloof to form a connection with. He's a straight version of an outsider artist that is satirized so frequently in movies and on TV. One problem is that in order to understand how his views are reflected in his art, you have to read the entire comic (which don't appear to be very long) to get the full picture. Only once are we able to view a whole comic, but it feels like an inside joke that goes on for five minutes. There are other comics that would have been more revealing or enlightening.
When Zwigoff examines Crumb's art, what drives him and why he is controversial, the film is compelling. But that only represents about 75% of the film's running time. There are too many shots of Crumb in his usual hangouts watching the freaks and weirdos he finds so interesting and privately insulting normal people who walk around wearing shirts that support their favorite sports team. The montages of him drawing or his actual drawings (which are interesting at first, but lose their luster without context) are too frequent and last too long.
The film is also too long by a half hour. The final 30 minutes are about Crumb's interactions with his family, save for his two sisters (who declined to be interviewed). These are not normal or happy people. A team of psychiatrists could retire on all of their problems. But by the time that we arrive at this point, we already know enough about them to get a good idea of Crumb, and the final act doesn't tell us anything more. In fact, the way that Zwigoff, Crumb and Crumb's brother Maxon laugh about his past history of molesting women is offensive.
I would be lying if I told you that the film is easy viewing or easy to digest. It is for adventurous filmgoers only; conservative people would do best to avoid this portrayal of a true weirdo. But at least he's an interesting weirdo.
Rated R for Graphic, Sex-Related Cartoons and Language
"[Terry Zwigoff] makes a specialty of depressed, antisocial, oddballs." - Roger Ebert, in his review of Zwigoff's later film, "Bad Santa"Those words are definitely true. Few people are stranger than the famous underground cartoonist Robert Crumb. He's shy, super dorky, and hates just about everything. In fact, with those oversized glasses and worn-down clothes that are clearly too big for him, and with his stooped posture and strained way of speaking, Crumb looks like a real-life cartoon. If nothing else, he's an interesting character.
The problem with making a personal film is being too close to the material to see it objectively. "Schindler's List" was a hugely personal film for Steven Spielberg, but it worked because he was able to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Zwigoff isn't able to do that. He is so infatuated with Crumb that he is happy to listen to him merely talk about anything or draw. While some of what he shows of the artist is objective and he examines his most controversial work from all sides without judgement (this consequently is the most interesting material in the film), most of the film feels like hero worship, and that is exactly what not to do when creating a biopic. Such reverence can ruin pacing and/or lead to boredom, which is what happens here.
As I said earlier, Robert Crumb is an interesting individual. He's highly intelligent and his views on life and the world how he sees it are unusual and occasionally amusing. His need to draw is a lifeline from a troubled childhood, and his ability to express his deepest fears and hurts makes him easy to relate to even when he's giving voice to, or satirizing, deeply held prejudices. I felt like I understood how Crumb viewed the world to the point where if I ran into him on the street, I'd have a pretty good idea of what to expect.
Crumb is not always likable (his views on sex are strange and his cynicism towards just about everything is enough to annoy), but I was at least able to understand where he came from. Crumb is frank about his past and his views on the world, which allows us to get to know him. Some of what he said, like his experiences with high school bullies and the girls who favored the brutish Cro-Magnons as opposed to kind and sensitive guys like him, hits home. He is also very candid about his home-life, which was dysfunctional to the extreme (his mother was an amphetamine addict and his father was physically and emotionally abusive).
Zwigoff, who struggled to keep the film going and was suicidally depressed due to back pain, wants us to become emotionally attached to Crumb, but it's a tough sell. Crumb is too strange and too aloof to form a connection with. He's a straight version of an outsider artist that is satirized so frequently in movies and on TV. One problem is that in order to understand how his views are reflected in his art, you have to read the entire comic (which don't appear to be very long) to get the full picture. Only once are we able to view a whole comic, but it feels like an inside joke that goes on for five minutes. There are other comics that would have been more revealing or enlightening.
When Zwigoff examines Crumb's art, what drives him and why he is controversial, the film is compelling. But that only represents about 75% of the film's running time. There are too many shots of Crumb in his usual hangouts watching the freaks and weirdos he finds so interesting and privately insulting normal people who walk around wearing shirts that support their favorite sports team. The montages of him drawing or his actual drawings (which are interesting at first, but lose their luster without context) are too frequent and last too long.
The film is also too long by a half hour. The final 30 minutes are about Crumb's interactions with his family, save for his two sisters (who declined to be interviewed). These are not normal or happy people. A team of psychiatrists could retire on all of their problems. But by the time that we arrive at this point, we already know enough about them to get a good idea of Crumb, and the final act doesn't tell us anything more. In fact, the way that Zwigoff, Crumb and Crumb's brother Maxon laugh about his past history of molesting women is offensive.
I would be lying if I told you that the film is easy viewing or easy to digest. It is for adventurous filmgoers only; conservative people would do best to avoid this portrayal of a true weirdo. But at least he's an interesting weirdo.
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