At first glance many could be excused for thinking a comic book story concerning the day to day minutiae of a ordinary mans life would be either; a:geeky, b:boring or c:all of the above. The fact is that in the last few years with the explosion of reality T.V. most of us have at sometime watched some Johnny Nothing make a cup of tea, get their hair done or get bollocked over the phone for the sake of entertainment. Other people's boring lives are perversely more interesting then our own.
American Splendour is a pre-cursor to all this tat and is based the autobiographical cult comic first published in 1976 detailing the real life story of Harvey Pekar (Paul Giamatti), a drab obsessive/depressive file clerk who lives a bleak existence in Nowheresville. His life is a series of monotonous routines punctuated by the odd shiver of excitement when he finds the occasional rare jazz record at his local car boot sale (if this sounds familiar you are either a rather unfortunate individual or you have watched Steve Buscemi's character in Ghost World who is directly based on Pekar).
At one of these junk sales he meets fellow odd-ball Robert Crumb (James Urbaniak), the now famous cartoonist, whose avant-garde work eventually inspires him to create his own brand of comic book. Not one where it's stars are animals or superheroes but his everyday friends and colleagues whose humdrum lives contain enough nuances, drama and humour to be worthy of print (kind of like Eastenders but entertaining).
With the help of Crumb he puts his car crash life in comic book form and quickly garners critical acclaim and a soul mate in Joyce Brabner (Hope Davis), an obsessive fan and the only woman loopy enough to go out with him, whom he marries after just two days. Still a desk jockey at the local hospital Pekar's celebrity reaches its peak in the 80's as his underground fame reaches the mainstream and he is booked as a regular guest on the David Letterman Show but blows it all after his paranoia gets the better of him as he accuses Letterman of just bringing him on the show to take the piss out of him.
Events turn darker when he is diagnosed with cancer and we are left with what is in effect a touchingly off-beat love story where Pekar struggles with illness, celebrtity and married life. This is traditionally where some of the best films fall down but at no point does the story turning mawkish or overly sentimental.
The film has already bagged a bunch of awards at the Cannes, Sundance and Edinburgh film festivals and it is easy to see why. It is very funny, wonderfully original and ultimately quite thought-provoking.
Berman & Pulcini's direction is truly innovative as they manage to create a unique feel by merging animation with actual film footage and scenes involving the actors and their real life counterparts. I have never seen a film shot this way before. For instance you have a scene where the real Pekar is narrating whiles Giamatti acts his part before walking around the corner and transforming into his cartoon equivalent.
There is even a piece where we see the real Pekar being interviewed documentary-style whilst the Giamatti is in shot seemingly relaxing "off-camera" smirking at his real-life counterpart. If it sounds like I'm on drugs, please bare with me as the directors turn a potentially confusing dog's dinner into a naturalistic, engaging main course.
They would never have been able to pull off something so audacious without the skill of the ensemble cast who perfectly capture their real life counterparts, so whether you are following the real or fake character you are always moving in the right direction. Giamatti is so convincing as the manic Pekar you genuinely believe he has mental problems in his tug of war with depression and he manges to capture his wided eyed hopelessness perfectly. After this performance he deserves to be more then just a familiar face. Toby Radloff (Judah Friedlander) is hilarious as the genial nerd side-kick who must have been the inspiration for the comic store owner in the Simpsons. With a lot of the characters it's difficult to work out who is funnier, the actor or their real-life counterpart.
Regardless of it's brilliance go and watch this film if only just to see that there is hope for those, whose lives seem even worse than yours.
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