Crumb (Criterion)
The Criterion Collection
Terry Zwigoff's landmark 1995 film is an intimate documentary portrait of underground artist Robert Crumb, whose unique drawing style and sexually and racially provocative subject matter have made him a household name in popular American art. Zwigoff candidly and colorfully delves into the details of Crumb's incredible career, as well as his past, including his family of reclusive eccentrics, some of the most remarkable people you'll ever see on-screen. At once a profound biographical portrait, a riotous examination of a man's controversial art, and a devastating look at a troubled family, Crumb is a genuine American original.
Member Reviews
One of a kind documentary. - Superdave
Robert Crumb has become an icon in the world of underground comic artists, and this documentary takes a close look at his work and the often unhappy life that informed it with an intimacy that is both gratifying and disturbing. Crumb's art and career are celebrated here on film even while his dysfunctional adolescence, his personal insecurities and his sexual obsessions are dissected by family, friends, pop psychologists and other invited crackpots. We see how, by his own understanding, that young Robert Crumb developed his talent as a vehicle to reach out and connect with other people, especially girls, and then had to deal with the frustrations resulting from his failure to achieve success with this. We see how his cartooning style evolved, how certain repeated subjects and motifs found their way into his work.
We get a close up view of Robert Crumb that is almost too close up. The film's intimacy with its subject creates an almost claustrophobic feel, especially since Crumb himself is almost painfully awkward and lacking in personal charm, his mother is an ogress, his wife and daughter seem wary and stiff on camera, and his older brother is borderline crazy.
Especially interesting is Robert Crumb's brother Charles, who is also a cartoonist and quite talented but clearly mentally unbalanced. His work shows genuine technical polish and is extremely evocative. It is also morbid and obsessive to the point of wallowing in darkness and despair, since its creator is an over-40, out of work dingbat who lives and works in the attic of the Crumb family home. Charles was a key inspiration to the young Robert Crumb, yet he is also an object lesson. With a little less professional drive and career focus, Robert could easily have followed his brother's path in life and art.
The Criterion collection edition contains almost an hour of unused snippets of film. Be warned that this is just random stuff and has an incomplete and unassembled feel.
Member Reviews
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One of a kind documentary. - Superdave
Robert Crumb has become an icon in the world of underground comic artists, and this documentary takes a close look at his work and the often unhappy life that informed it with an intimacy that is both gratifying and disturbing. Crumb's art and career are celebrated ...