Movie Review #17 - American Splendor
Jan. 2nd, 2007 07:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catalyst2I was just spellbound by this entire movie - both the character of Harvey Pekar and the way the character was presented were fascinating
First check of the watch - NEVER - I was in thrall throughout.
To say that this movie broke the fourth wall would be an understatement - it kicked the damn thing down, along with the first, second and third ones too. We see Paul Giamatti as Harvey, we see Harvey as Harvey and we see Harvey's drawings of Harvey commenting on Harvey - balls within balls within balls within balls within .....
The effect could be utterly pretentious but Harvey's own utter lack of anything but candid clear vision means this stays on track. Harvey's a self-centred socially inept wanker (and, oddly, I mean wanker in a good sense!) but with an acute eye for the human-ness of everyday interactions. This results in a movie which is warm and touching and cynical and perceptive all at once. Performances are great throughout - Paul Giamatti as Harvey and Hope Davis as Joyce are so inch perfect that when it does switch to the real Harvey and Joyce, I could hardly tell the difference. A mention has to go to Judah Friedlander as Toby Radloff who manages to make a potentially irritating character endearing by sheer dint of effort and consistency - and then to see just how closely Friedlander gets Radloff is positively unnerving!
A wonderful movie - entertaining, informative and not a little uplifting too! Oh, funny too in a dark (but not too vicious) way!
First check of the watch - NEVER - I was in thrall throughout.
To say that this movie broke the fourth wall would be an understatement - it kicked the damn thing down, along with the first, second and third ones too. We see Paul Giamatti as Harvey, we see Harvey as Harvey and we see Harvey's drawings of Harvey commenting on Harvey - balls within balls within balls within balls within .....
The effect could be utterly pretentious but Harvey's own utter lack of anything but candid clear vision means this stays on track. Harvey's a self-centred socially inept wanker (and, oddly, I mean wanker in a good sense!) but with an acute eye for the human-ness of everyday interactions. This results in a movie which is warm and touching and cynical and perceptive all at once. Performances are great throughout - Paul Giamatti as Harvey and Hope Davis as Joyce are so inch perfect that when it does switch to the real Harvey and Joyce, I could hardly tell the difference. A mention has to go to Judah Friedlander as Toby Radloff who manages to make a potentially irritating character endearing by sheer dint of effort and consistency - and then to see just how closely Friedlander gets Radloff is positively unnerving!
A wonderful movie - entertaining, informative and not a little uplifting too! Oh, funny too in a dark (but not too vicious) way!
