Rating: R
Genre:
Comedy Drama
Theatrical Release: 08/15/2003(USA
Release Date: 02/03/2004
Dubbed: English
Sound: DS
Run Time: 101 Minutes
Flags: Adult Situations, Adult Humor, Profanity, Sexual Situations
Distributor/Studio: HBO Home Video
The
documentary directing team of
Robert Pulcini and
Shari Springer Berman makes their narrative feature debut with the
biographical comedy drama American Splendor.
Harvey Pekar (
Paul Giamatti) is a comic book writer inspired by the work of his friend
Robert Crumb (
James Urbaniak).
Pekar writes his comics about the sad monotony of everyday life, based on his own life in Cleveland, OH, working as a file clerk at a veteran's hospital and spending his time reading books and listening to
jazz. He meets up with
Joyce Brabner (
Hope Davis) and they enjoy a depressive relationship together. The filmmakers employ a combination of live-action film, video, and animation, including narration and commentary from the real-life
Harvey Pekar. The screenplay was based on
Pekar's comic book series
American Splendor, which he has been writing since 1976 on
Dark Horse Comics, and the 1994 book-length comic
Our Cancer Year, written by
Pekar and
Brabner.
American Splendor won the Grand Jury Prize in the Dramatic Competition at the
2003 Sundance Film Festival.
~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
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