Crumb

Rating:
Summary: He's a Crumb, but is he a crumb?
Review: "Crumb" is a movie where you must learn to read beneath the lines as to who this artist is. Nothing about this man is as what it seems initially. But if you study this movie (as it is a film to be studied) you will realize the malice R.Crumb puts into his artwork is directed solely at the attitudes of society. And that includes every aspect and every class of people. It doesn't seem to matter who they are. He is an artist that details everything he sees with frightening clarity and no regard for diplomacy. It's an ability not confined to gender or color. His comics read like an illustrated passage of a diary. As you dig more into his backround (the film is NOT the last word on him) you realize that no one is exempt from his wrath. Not men, not women, not ethnics. After reading several reviews and chats about what they observed in this film, it's obvious that many viewers took what they saw at face value.

Looking at his artwork you realize R.Crumb combined the look of innocent comic strips of the early 20th century with more explicit content common today. No one else at the time had thought of drawing this way. The comic book industry in the 60's was becoming increasingly progressive. The old look of comics, Lil Abner or Little Orphan Annie for example, were considered passe.

The inspiration for R.Crumb's art comes from a deeply dysfunctional family. It wasn't an overly violent family but it was a morbidly depressing one. You learn that the problems Robert and his siblings had stemmed from the fact that their house was dominated by a father who saw manhood in only one way and was not lenient in his views to accomodate any of his sons' artistic potential. As Robert pointed out, when his father came home from work any blip of a happy man dissapeared as soon as he entered the door. When it came to encouragement or artistic development all five children had only each other and were left to their own devices. Robert became the success perhaps because he, unlike Charles for instance, saw his talent as a way to define himself and not simply as a means of profit. He chose the format (comics) he knew best to make his point.


The bulk of his material consists of two main topics:his family and women. His attitudes on women are far more complicated. His unpopularity with girls as a teen is due to a result of his inability to fashion himself into something they wanted visually. And he was equally frustrated at THEIR apparent inability to ignore those instincts and see him for the good person he felt he was. It has led to lifelong love/hate relationship with the opposite sex. One that is defined by pure lust and no real affection for females for who they are except in the case of his daughter Sophie.

His views on blacks and the never ending debate as to whether or not he is racist is not given nearly as much screentime.He denounces the critism he has garnered by saying "it all came from white liberals." That's not exactly an ideal way of defending yourself in a largely white liberal society. Neither he, nor Terry Zwigoff (who made this movie), give a straight answer to the charge and leave other artists to answer for Crumb. But if you take into account Crumb's true love of black music (specifically, delta blues of 30's) it becomes harder to pin the "racist" label on him. Still, the movie lets him off a bit easy, its only flaw.

Other aspects of his life such as his open marriage to wife Aline, his strained relationship with his son Jesse, and the overall study of the underground comix scene that he helped spawn are present but not as prominently featured. Engrossing, but somewhat incomplete, "Crumb" is an indepth character study of a truly misunderstood man.

Rating:
Summary: Disturbing, depressing, and utterly fascinating
Review: Charles Crumb and his two brothers pretty much bare their souls in this documentary, and what is revealed isn't pretty, but it is extraordinary. Charles and his brother Max are both brilliantly talented artists, though Max, whose discovery of his ability to draw coincided with the onset of epileptic seizures, has pretty much lost his grip on reality. Charles, the most functional of the three, has become successful and famous for his highly original and satirical drawings. Sadly, the third brother committed suicide about a year after he was filmed. All three were abused as children, and it is fascinating, if sickening, to see how their talent and intelligence emerges through this sadly depraved filter. Critics interviewed for the film compare Charles Crumb to Dumas and Breughel, though personally what came to my mind when I saw his grotesque caricatures were some of da Vinci's more distorted sketches. While no da Vinci, Crumb is an amazing draftsman. He is also disarmingly candid about what many consider his deviant personality, and a trenchant social critic. He fits the definition of genius, and I can only praise the filmmaker for having the insight and sensitivity to create this amazing portrait.

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.