Directed by Terry Zwigoff
Release Date: April 25th
David Lynch presents a Terry Zwigoff film
Running time: 120 minutes
The Film
Crumb, the documentary, examines Robert Crumb creator of Fritz the Cat, that ubiquitous “Keep on Truckin'” picture, and numerous underground comics. It is a remarkable film, brilliantly shot, brutally honest, and ingenious in its timing.
Let me see if I can explain what I mean by “timing.” What I’m referring to here is the order by which the film reveals certain sensitive facts. What we get is not so much a chronological history of all things Crumb. Rather what we get is a study of the factors which makes up Crumb the person, and how he tries to understand these things by being Crumb the artist. We spend time with old girlfriends, wives, his family, etc. Now I should now note that the focus here is not only on R. Crumb, but also his brother Charles and to a lesser extent his brother Maxon. I will also at this time, beg forgiveness as I tend towards oblique descriptions of the film to avoid what those pesky kids refer to as “spoilers.”
Among the many reoccurring themes of Crumb, the artist, is one of a bland facade, that there exists this false front of “normalcy” under which hides deeper, usual ugly, truths. In one particular comic, he satirizes an “Ozzie and Harriet” style family wherein Dad and Mom force themselves onto their children sexually. In Crumb’s work a sea of happy, smiling faces can, and usually does, become a nightmarish, disturbing thing. Crumb gives us the message that there exists something deviant below the surface.
Now Crumb the documentary mirrors this theme. Terry Zwigoff is very careful in how he releases information. We will start to get an understanding of one of the film’s subjects, i.e. Crumb or one of his two brothers. We gain a sense of familiarity, if not affection for that person. Their family history looks common enough in pictures, and at first things seem typical (over-bearing mother, distant father). But as things progress, we learn more and more about these people and much of what we learn is unsettling. That certain facade of normalcy which we have assumed was present does not actually exist. But like the art of Crumb, things are presented with such candor and wit that there is created a sort of paradox between comfortable and disturbing.
Long story short, the Crumbs are messed up. It would be extremely generous to refer to them as eccentric. It is a family of very odd, very damaged people, who just happen to be quite talented, intelligent, well spoken and oftentimes charming. Robert Crumb himself is a terribly passive-aggressive, detached misanthrope who has fetishes about powerfully built women, feet, large bottoms, piggyback rides, body hair, etc. He exists as a self caricature, impossibly skinny, the posture of a man trying to disappear, glasses which make his eyes freakishly large giving him the appearance of an insect or a baby, the omnipresent hat and sport jacket. But R. Crumb is able to function socially, in ways that his brothers cannot. We have to question why this is so. Is it merely a function of his success as an artist? I don’t believe it is, at least not fully. What distinguishes Robert, perhaps, is his sense of honesty. He puts himself, kinks and all, out there for all to see. But it could be that the only reason Crumb gets away with being that way is his status as a celebrated person.
But perhaps I digress from the purpose of a DVD review. I shall say that Crumb is a remarkable film and be done with it.
Score: 8.5/10
The DVD
The Box
The outside of the box is fine. The inside has only advertisements for other, mostly unrelated, documentaries.
Tech stuff
The transfer here is good, noticeably better than it’s previous release.
Special Features
Exclusive Scene from Art School Confidential: A 2 minute clip from Terry Zwigoff’s next movie. It’s enough to see the film-maker’s continuity between this documentary, Ghost World, etc. but the clip is nothing special on its own.
Trailers: We get a ton of trailers (including one for Art School Confidential which makes me more interested to check that flick out). Next.
Commentary Track: We get Terry Zwigoff and ROGER EBERT?! The results are a little mixed. It occasionally turns into Ebert half-assing an interview with Zwigoff, but there are some interesting things to be learned. After listening to the commentary track, certain things about the film make more sense. For instance, the frankness of the film’s subjects. As it turns out, Zwigoff and Crumb have been friends since the ’70s. They were in a band together, Crumb used to date Zwigoff’s old roommate, Zwigoff spent the night at Crumb’s mother’s house 30 years ago, etc. Basically what it amounts to is Zwigoff has an intimate understanding of Crumb, and most of the people in the film. I have to imagine that that makes things loads easier when filming a documentary.
The DVD: 5.5/10
