American Splendor (2003)  

Shari Berman and Robert Pulcini

These are some pictures I took within walking distance of the Cleveland VA hospital (2003).
Here is a terrific good movie. It’s Crumb (and Ghost World) meets Best In Show with a dash of Annie Hall and a sprinkle of Being John Malkovich. Okay, maybe it’s not that good, but it does have a scene in it, which reminds me of Stalker (1979). The scene where he discusses the meaning of life in front of that whitescreen while a telephone keeps ringing—straight out of Tarkovsky’s Stalker when they’re outside ‘the room’. The ringing phone effect was again used to great effect in Sergio Leone’s flawed masterpiece Once Upon A Time In America (1984). Stunning! Or should I say ringing! All three films delt with feelings of hope, loss and isolation, and all three were about a struggling cartoonist who gets married, adopts a young girl into his family then fails to escape from Cleveland.
From: Feldman, Elliot
To: ‘Cold Bacon’
Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2003 7:13 PM

‘Crumb’ was a masterpiece. I loved it. One of the best films ever. I wanted to see more of Harvey’s adventures in record collecting and more hospital stuff.

From: ‘Cold Bacon’
To: Feldman, Elliot
Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2003 5:59 AM

okay. but his adventures in record collecting would have been copying ‘ghost world’. but more hospital stuff. yes. i agree. not just bc that’s my own experience. but because if there was anything weak about the film, it was the excessive/condensed sap of the family/adoption stuff. it was like too crammed in last-minute. the best stuff was indeed the hospital stuff. the many random insane (true to life) characters.

Movies      Home