Crumb

Rating:
Summary: Keep on Truckin'...
Review: "Crumb" is the sad and funny documentary of a damaged man who happened to find a beautiful and reasonably lucrative outlet for his peccadilloes. It's also the brutal portrait of two men - Robert's brothers - who were not so lucky.

"Crumb" offers amazing access to R. Crumb and his family, but the man himself remains an enigma - an entertaining and fascinating enigma, but an enigma nonetheless. Still, Zwigoff's probing camera gets behind the man and his art, his fans and detractors, and delivers a wonderful portrait of the man and a great appreciation of his work - even his most off-putting, misogynistic work.

But it's when Zwigoff talks to Robert's family that we see the true effects of a horrible, and horror-filled, childhood. Both of his brothers are intelligent and considerably talented, but they were unable to find a healthy outlet to escape a tyrannical father (his abuse is only hinted at in the movie), and their stories are deeply affecting - and difficult to watch.

So "Crumb" is either life-affirming or terribly depressing. I vote for the first option, which is why I'm the proud owner of the DVD. You wont find a much better documentary, or a more powerful drama, than "Crumb."

Rating:
Summary: Disturbing, shockling funny, and eerily hypnotic
Review: Robert Crumb is well known as one of the pioneers of the underground comic book era of the 1960s, and his "Keep On Truckin'" logo is still well-known today. His comics were (and still are), bizarre, outrageous, shocking, and often offensive. But the story of real-life creator of such psychedelic highlights as Zap Comics and Fritz the Cat is so weird and unusual in itself, you'll remember it for a long time to come. (Robert Crumb describes the Church of the SubGenius as the only religion he could consider joining.) Terry Zwigoff's masterful portrayal of Crumb is presented in such a manner that even as you're shocked at some of the things he draws (e.g. Mr. Natural in "A Bitchin' Bod"), you see that compared to the other people in his family, he looks almost normal. It's presented in a modest, low-key style that you can't tear your eyes away from after you start watching it. The scene of Crumb's brother Max eating cloth while sitting on a bed of nails is strangely entrancing.

Rating:
Summary: Thanks to Zwigoff for documenting the Family Crumb
Review: What a fascinating family, so glad they let us glimpse their eccentricities head on, to me it was liberating. Here is a family of lovable oddballs, some coping with life more effectively than others. They are not made from a Picture Perfect American Family mold, for sure! In Robert Crumb's comics, surface normality and conformity is no guarantee that no desires and emotions, perverse and otherwise, lurk beneath. So I'm grateful to Crumb for having the moxie to put it out there in his drawings. Honesty is both healing and creative.

Rating:
Summary: Compelling, unconventional documentary of a strange man
Review: Robert Crumb was the reluctant face of underground comic books between the late 1960s to the late 1980s. His comics were often controversial, mostly provocative, and always far off the beaten path, and for some reason, people identified with this, and he became rich and famous. Terry Zwigoff's documentary Crumb chooses to paint a portrait of R. Crumb the person, instead of R. Crumb the successful artist, and tries to offer some insight into the mind of a man who created some truly unique and oddball art.

R. Crumb is a very strange man, so strange in fact that when he first met his wife's family, they weren't quite sure whether or not he was mentally handicapped. He is relatively reclusive and distanced a bit from reality, and this allows him to draw some really absurd and bizarre things. Throughout the film, different personalities try to offer their explanations for his work, and oftentimes they come back to his obsessions: fear of women coupled with a love of sexuality. His work also often reveals his distant nature, as he paints himself as an outsider.

The heart of the film lies within Crumb's interactions with the various members of his family, most especially his brothers Maxon and Charles, who, by comparison, make Robert seem like a gregarious extrovert. Max is pretty far off the deep end, spending most of his days painting surreal art, sitting on a self-constructed bed of nails, and swallowing a long line of cloth to clean his intestines. Charles still lives with their mother, hasn't had a job in 30 years, and spends his days reading and scribbling gibberish in notebook after notebook.

Crumb, the film, is stark and honest in its portrayal of the lives of these societal outcasts. Robert lives right on the edge of sanity, but his brothers have clearly dove right off of that cliff, and it's only possible to fully understand where Robert is coming from when you witness and listen to Max and Charles. They seem to have a repressed hatred for their father, who couldn't seem to accept them for who they were. All in all, it's a very good unconventional documentary that does so much more than simply speaking facts about a famous artist; it makes us sympathize with people who we'd ordinarily write off as looneys.

http://moyer.privatjokr.com/

Rating:
Summary: What a film...
Review: ...I was taken to see Crumb by some friends around the time it came out, and had no idea what I was going to see. Until I saw the artwork.

Now I knew! Back in the mid-70's, one of my older brothers had a bunch of Crumb's stuff, "Big Ass" comics and also a t-shirt of Mr. Natural.

For a kid who had considered Spider Man of that time to be edgy, this was mind blower. The artwork, the caricatures, the humor, it all appealed to me.

The documentary was well done, an intimate, inside look at Crumb and his family. Disturbing, yes, but now you see how a man who came up with such artwork and such ideas was spawned.

His brothers were indeed strange, and one I believe sadly committed suicide either during or after the film was made. Of all, Crumb seems to be the sanest of them all, and his family doesn't seem too bad.

Crumb's views on this little planet are interesting to say the least, and it was quite a look inside. Watch this, and you really start to understand the man, whether you like his stuff or not.

Rating:
Summary: Great Docudrama..one of the best..however..
Review: Well..this review is part ego..part truth..but I figure you need to know...this movie..cost some of those involved uhh..their sanity..for starters....I now spend 6 hours driving to therapy in S.F. from Eureka...every week..people came out of the wood work after the film...that was great..real ego rush, lot's of money was made...I sold all the artwork I had done to that point, Sketch books...portraits...now..I am frozen, have been for a few years..(coming out of it now..finally...starting to paint) I call...paralysis of the will..and it's been 10 years...seems like longer..I was unprepared..and the aftermath..well they don't tell you what to do..and your 24 or so, young...stupid..lucky..can be a great combo..or a deadly one..it's been good and bad..but Terry he did an excellent job...he made one of the best "reality based" pieces ever..and way ahead of the times..unfortunately he dis-likes me quite allot now...we were friends once..I used to stay at his place whenever I was in the city...we would go eat burritos and maybe track Max down, go to yard sales and move furniture around his pad...it's all over now..a double edged sword Terry's film...double edged...love the ego rush...but the mind was messed up just the same...but it is one of the best documentaries ever made...it really is..and I say that with the objectivity born of dislike for many of the people involved...you can trust me because I have nothing to gain by saying this..and nothing to lose...this is a great laugh too...a great "black Comedy" if you liked "the Plot against Harry"(coming out..unbelievably in February..I think...great movie..) or "A shock to the System" you'll love this..it should have been like "Blair witch" a phony production...that would have made it even better...but I have yet to see a documentary as good..well that's it for now..my ego rush for today..best wish's...and watch out..reality T.V. isn't all it's cracked up to be...

Rating:
Summary: Quirky, Anachronistic Creators Rejoice - Here's Our Film
Review: After being hounded for a time by my boss's husband, I finally gave in and had a look at what I thought would be merely a weird art film - from his description, it was a disturbing exploration into the mind and work of a perverse artist - and something that I'd relate to intimately. Upon at last viewing Crumb, I came to realize that it was that and even more, much, much more - and that yessir, I could relate to it very well, indeed.

Here is, at LONG last, an objective, yet celebratory, documentary on who, I honestly believe, is today's greatest working illustrator - and most certainly one of the very few artists around who I'd put on the level of genius. I knew very little about Robert Crumb before seeing this film, but Terry Zwigoff did such a good job of exploring Crumb's childhood, family, imagination, world view and work that it left me totally fascinated before the film was even half over with. The fact that Robert Crumb can even function, nevertheless put such intensity of personal experience into his work so prolifically - and that Zwigoff can capture even a hint of what the artist is as a creator - well, it makes for a great film.

I find it very difficult to address the many questions that so frequently come up when Robert Crumb's work is being discussed - pornography, misogyny, violence, morality - we've heard it all before. I will say, however, that as a woman of independence and inner strength, I personally am not offended by his more "woman unfriendly" work - if anything, I honestly see humor in it. And, clearly, as several women in the film mention, Crumb is quite capable of making his female models feel beautiful. All in the eye of the beholder, to be sure.

What I particularly appreciate about the film is the fact that it shows Crumb's love for vintage jazz, and utilizes it as the film's soundtrack. Just the introduction, with "Ragtime Mockingbird", culminating in Crumb rocking on the floor by his turntable and record collection - now, there's poetry. If there were any one moment in the film that really seems to grasp Crumb's true inner being, that's it. I'm an enormous fan of early jazz as well, and find that itvery strongly influences my own illustrative work, so maybe I'm biased - but that's a heck of a moment for Zwigoff to have included.

Overall, I know that this is certainly not a film for all tastes. However, I would very emphatically recommend it to illustrators, jazz buffs, and especially those who feel left out of society's "normal boundaries". It stands as a shining example that those who don't quite fit can find their voice, and once that voice is found, wonderful, beautiful results can occur. Even if, at first, those results seem a little unorthodox.

Rating:
Summary: NASTY PERVERT GENIUS...and probably a pretty nice guy..
Review: What a funny and horrifying movie! R. Crumb always did the kind of work that would get you in trouble if your Mom found it hidden under the bed...and it was enlightening to see him at work on his sketchbooks, sitting on a sidewalk bench sketching away, eyeing little girls with bad intent, hey, AQUALUNG...wait, that's Jethro Tull ( R.Crumb didn't look at any young girls...). This was a great documentary...funny and strange and so full of life (although maybe not a side of life that everyone would be comfortable with). What a conundrum...to be such a seemingly shy and quiet person doing work that is so confrontational and dark. What a wonderful thing to make a living at something that is an obsession. R. Crumb is a great artist, period...not just a great comic/comix artist. The volume of work and the quality of that work is amazing. It was nice to get to know him a little through this film.

Rating:
Summary: Odd, Funny, and for the Laid Back Inner You
Review: After all the political eye gouging this year, I felt the need for the peace and quiet of the Sixties so I put on Crumb, the documentary by Terry Zwigoff of the life of R. Crumb. Crumb is a fascinating look at a talented, amazingly off-center artist who probably epitomizes much of the Sixties counter culture. If you're old enough to remember Fritz the Cat, Mr. Natural, "keep on truckin'" and any number of large-bottomed women, you're remembering R. Crumb. If you remember walking into tacky head shops, past the displays of pipes, cigarette paper and psychedelic posters, to pick up a copy of Yellow Dog or Fritz the Cat, you're remembering at least part of the Sixties.

He grew up in a terribly dysfunctional family, with a disconnected mother and a bully of a father. Of his siblings, his two brothers agreed to be interviewed and they appear to have grown up as strange as he. He and a brother began drawing comic books as an escape. We're all sexual creatures, but Crumb is the only kid I ever heard of who got aroused thinking of Bugs Bunny. His cartoons and comic books show what the Sixties youth revolution was all about. They were in-your-face, sexual, anti-establishmernt, ironic, funny. They were also often violent and anti-female (or at least demeaning to women). Crumb moved to France years ago with a second wife and a daughter. Many people consider the work he's now creating as very good stuff.

This is an excellent documentary about a very strange, hugely talented and influential human being. If you like his work, consider buying The R. Crumb Coffee Table Art Book. It's a retrospective that's worth having. You might also enjoy watching American Splendor.

The DVD transfer is excellent.

Rating:
Summary: Full off only the Crumb(s) of a meal!
Review: Director Terry Zwigoff followed his friend Robert Crumb for six years with his camera. What concluded from this voyage was a passionate, humanistic, and incredible film about one of our most intimate artists. A cultural icon and possibly lost in the mind, Crumb is a delicate and difficult subject to follow. His random words and ideas scatter this film into different directions, but somehow Zwigoff keeps it all together.

Normally, I write much more about the films that I watch, but this is one of those rare films where watching it and experiencing it yourself firsthand is better than any written word.

Impressive and an instant cult classic!

Grade: ***** out of *****