Saturday, April 17, 2004
Lesson 24: If You Are Going to Comment on Your Story, Make Sure Your Story Is Interesting in the First Place: American Splendor
American Splendor is a movie about Harvey Pekar, a file clerk in Cleveland, and accidental star by way of David Letterman, who makes comic books about his "ordinary" life. It is also a movie about making a movie about Harvey Pekar, who appears as himself in the movie, sometimes alongside the actor Paul Giamatti, who is sometimes alongside the various comic book drawings of Harvey Pekar. Holy Godard, Batman!
There are so many ways this shouldn't work, but it does. The filmmakers, Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman, are old pros in the documentary world, and they know the Big Secret: if your basic story isn't entertaining, all the meta-commenting on it won't make it so. Harvey--whether he's real Harvey, actor Harvey, or comic Harvey--possesses a fierce drive to make his mark in the world, and, less obviously, because he is one of the biggest cranks captured on film, he wants to be loved. The filmmakers treat his needs with generosity and humor. The meta-commenting---which includes animation, mixing real footage with staged, interviews by the filmmakers, and a funny comic book coda--aren't gimmicks, but tools that organically express Harvey's quest to be understood, admired, and loved. It's a real achievement.
There seems to be a little explosion of these techniques lately, from Six Feet Under to any movie Charlie Kaufman puts his hand to, but the techniques aren't really new. Most of them are borrowed from (ahem) the theatre, and go back, oh, thousands of years. And there's sort of two truths about them. One is, if the effect is theatrical enough, the first time you use it, you'll wow your audience. But. If the effect isn't organic to revealing your character or advancing the story, the second time you use it, you'll bore them. ("Oh, no! He's not going to split his body in two to express his ambivalence AGAIN? I'm going out for Milk Duds!")
American Splendor is a movie about Harvey Pekar, a file clerk in Cleveland, and accidental star by way of David Letterman, who makes comic books about his "ordinary" life. It is also a movie about making a movie about Harvey Pekar, who appears as himself in the movie, sometimes alongside the actor Paul Giamatti, who is sometimes alongside the various comic book drawings of Harvey Pekar. Holy Godard, Batman!
There are so many ways this shouldn't work, but it does. The filmmakers, Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman, are old pros in the documentary world, and they know the Big Secret: if your basic story isn't entertaining, all the meta-commenting on it won't make it so. Harvey--whether he's real Harvey, actor Harvey, or comic Harvey--possesses a fierce drive to make his mark in the world, and, less obviously, because he is one of the biggest cranks captured on film, he wants to be loved. The filmmakers treat his needs with generosity and humor. The meta-commenting---which includes animation, mixing real footage with staged, interviews by the filmmakers, and a funny comic book coda--aren't gimmicks, but tools that organically express Harvey's quest to be understood, admired, and loved. It's a real achievement.
There seems to be a little explosion of these techniques lately, from Six Feet Under to any movie Charlie Kaufman puts his hand to, but the techniques aren't really new. Most of them are borrowed from (ahem) the theatre, and go back, oh, thousands of years. And there's sort of two truths about them. One is, if the effect is theatrical enough, the first time you use it, you'll wow your audience. But. If the effect isn't organic to revealing your character or advancing the story, the second time you use it, you'll bore them. ("Oh, no! He's not going to split his body in two to express his ambivalence AGAIN? I'm going out for Milk Duds!")
