American Splendor

Aroview: An ambitious celebration of the life of cult US comic-writer Harvey Pekar, told in a quilt-work of monologue, biopic, autobiography and 're-enactments'.

Many viewers may ask "Harvey... who?", but his sardonic and heartfelt worldview is an accessible, relatively familiar 'Everyman' lament of failed expectations, painful romance and stubborn eccentricity. Most interestingly the film mimics Pekar's autobiographical tendencies, cleverly interweaving footage of the man himself and his dramatic substitute (Giamatti), though whether the subject has quite the significance of Robert Crumb, say, is open to question.

Sundance - Grand Jury Prize (Dramatic) 2003
NZ International Film Festival 2003

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