|
 Crumb 1994 dir. Terry Zwigoff dp. Maryse Alberti producers. David Lynch, Terry Zwigoff, Lynn O'Donnell This movie chronicles the life and times of R. Crumb. Robert Crumb is the cartoonist/artist who drew Keep On Truckin’, Fritz the Cat, and played a major pioneering role in the genesis of underground comix. Through interviews with his mother, two brothers, wife, and ex-girlfriends, as well as selections from his vast quantity of graphic art, we are treated to a darkly comic ride through one man’s subconscious mind.  R. Crumb is a fascinating, and rather disturbing, underground artist who has, for better (?) or worse (??), been a major influential figure in the American Underground art scene. He has drawn covers for records, illustrated books, and has created piles and piles of comics. He is, without question, a weird motherfucker. Terry Zwigoff's unflinching portrait of R. Crumb shows a man who draws perpetually, without reserve. His libido is seemingly uncontrollable, and his art is constantly sexual or fetishistic. His art can be sacrilegious, politically "dangerous", racist, sexist, too-horny, misanthropic, and any/all variations of vulgarity. However, his work ethic is inspirational, his absolute disregard for self-censorship is impressive, and his constant sense of humor shows that none of this comes with hatred. Well. There's constant self-loathing, but no outward hatred. He just draws. And draws. And draws.  Terry Zwigoff's documentary is essential for artists and creatives, art lovers, comic book fans, and fans of oddball outsiders who seemingly breathe awkwardness. R. Crumb, and the people in his life, are willing to put it all out there, and also dive into their inner lives to try and explain who they are, who Robert is, and why they love, admire, and hate him. The film acts as an invitation into Robert Crumb's world and worldview, and it is entirely fascinating. Roger Ebert was a huge fan of the film giving it 4 stars. His write up has some interesting insights. Roger Ebert posted:Zwigoff told me he "called in every favor he owed me" to persuade Crumb to be in his film: He spent nine years on the documentary "while averaging an income of about $200 a month and living with back pain so intense that I spent three years with a loaded gun on the pillow next to my bed, trying to get up the nerve to kill myself." Roger Ebert posted:Among documentaries about artists, "Crumb" (1994) is unusual in having access to the key players and biographical artifacts of Crumb's entire life. Crumb himself is entirely forthcoming on camera, uninhibited, honest. We meet both of his wives, who talk cheerfully about the way their images and secrets were incorporated, sometimes directly, into Crumb's work. We see the high school yearbook portraits of classmates immortalized into grotesques and sadists, sometimes under their own names. Most crucially, we enter Crumb's boyhood home in New Jersey, still occupied by his mother and his brother Charles, and in San Francisco we visit his brother Max. His two sisters refuse to participate.  Jonathan Rosenbaum wrote an essay for Criterion called "Crumb Reconsidered", which begins: Jonathan Rosenbaum posted:Now that Terry Zwigoff’s Crumb is fifteen years old, it seems pretty safe to say that it has evolved from a potential classic to actually being one. But what kind? A documentary portrait of a comic-book artist, musician, and nerdy outsider? A personal film essay? A cultural study? An account of family dysfunction and sexual obsession? Or maybe just a meditation on what it means to be an American male artist—specifically, one so traumatized by his adolescence that he has never found a way of fully growing past it? It is also worth a read! Sadly, this movie is currently a little difficult to find. While it belongs in the Criterion Collection, it is currently not streaming (for free) anywhere. The blu-ray is also out of print. With that said, however you can find this movie (  ), you should find this movie and watch it. Sometimes it pops back up on the Criterion Channel, but not right now.Previous Movies of the Month Franchescanado fucked around with this message at 18:08 on Jan 6, 2021 |
#
?
Jan 6, 2021 17:45
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 6, 2024 12:45 |
|
|
I will fully admit, I haven't seen this movie in maybe ten years. The first time I saw it, I loved it. I find R. Crumb beautiful in an ugly, flawed, disturbing sort of way. The documentary does a pretty good job, from my memory, of being non-judgmental about Robert and his brothers. To do so would be punching down, really. Despite his status as a cult artist, he's not a rich guy, he's not a celebrity, and he's probably not the happiest guy around. But his vulnerability in front of the camera, and willingness to dive into his mind, like his sexual awakenings and why his art comes off as fetishistic, or his relationship with his brothers, there's a lot of room to empathize with him. I really hope this inspires people to watch this film, or rewatch it (like myself). It's a shame Zwigoff is mostly known for Ghost World, because Crumb is such a fascinating documentary, similar to American Movie, or like a grungier Jiro Dreams of Sushi with shoe fetishes. Franchescanado fucked around with this message at 17:56 on Jan 6, 2021 |
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2021 17:52
|
|
|
One of the most interesting characters in all of documentary filmmaking. I own the Criterion Blu-ray but haven't seen the movie in about 5 or 6 years. Time for a rewatch!
|
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2021 21:34
|
|
|
In hopes of getting even more participation for these Movies of the Month, we've added a specific channel to the CineD Discord where people can talk about the movie in real time. There's usually at least one stream held where everyone can watch it together, in case they don't have access to streaming it or can handle renting it right now. Things may change, but I believe it will be streamed this Sunday. I'll let the host of the stream make a post when they're ready!Spatulater bro! posted:One of the most interesting characters in all of documentary filmmaking. I own the Criterion Blu-ray but haven't seen the movie in about 5 or 6 years. Time for a rewatch! I've been scouring to see if I can find a copy of Crumb on blu-ray. It's pretty much a minimum of $50, which is lame. I tweeted Criterion to see if they're planning to bring it back, but they didn't respond to me. You're right in saying Robert is one of the most interesting characters in documentary filmmaking, but the real surprise is getting to know his brothers. Just wow.
|
|
#
?
Jan 7, 2021 14:26
|
|
|
Oh yeah his whole family is absolutely incredible. Like, you couldn't write characters more interesting than that.
|
|
#
?
Jan 7, 2021 16:13
|
|
|
I was always really fascinated by Robert's older brother, Charles. The art of his that's revealed in the film, like the dozens of notebooks of gestural drawing or the bizarre comics of his, are more interesting to me than the documentary's primary subject. Or the fact that he also had fairly bizarre/obsessive attitudes about sex which manifested in his comics and art-work, but unlike Robert he found them distressing to the extent that he was essentially unable to have anything resembling a normal life.
|
|
#
?
Jan 8, 2021 13:21
|
|
|
What are people's thoughts on Zwigoff using Crumb's brother as an inspiration for a character in his movie Art School Confidential? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRlGD1-KZss
|
|
#
?
Jan 8, 2021 14:00
|
|
|
I rewatched Crumb last night. Good lord this movie mesmerizes me. Shortest 2 hours I've ever spent in my life. They say a documentary is only as good as its subject matter, and in the case of Crumb I think Terry Zwigoff could have just pointed a static camera at this guy for 2 hours and the movie would still be great. Fortunately it's even better than that. Zwigoff structures the film perfectly, gradually revealing more and more about Robert's psyche, and that of his brothers, until we ultimately reach a rather disturbing view of these people. This is a film about three unhinged sociopaths as much as it is about a successful cartoonist. By far my favorite parts are when Robert is casually chatting with his brothers. He seems to revert to a childlike figure, giggling at every bizarre family recollection and discussing severe mental illness as if it was a trivial matter. The way he and his brothers normalize their bizarre lives is extremely disconcerting. For example, when Max talks about his "molestation phase" wherein he would grope women on busses, Both Max and Robert giggle about it as if they're talking about a joke someone told. I don't know exactly what it's like to witness the casual conversations of serial killers, but I wouldn't be surprised if it looks something like this. Fortunately for Robert, he seems to be the least unhinged of the three. Maybe his creative success worked to normalize him just enough. But there's no doubt this dude is deeply troubled. He seems to be channeling his id directly into his art. No social filter, no pretense and no hurdle of self analysis. What comes out - both in his art and from his mouth - is completely genuine but at times offensive. But I think that's sort of human nature for you. Imagine if we all went around expressing ourselves with zero concern for what others thought of us. Sure we'd say some nice things, but we'd probably say some pretty terrible things too. And that's Crumb's art. It's his psyche spilled out onto the page for better or worse. And it's loving fascinating.
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2021 16:57
|
|
|
I thought this movie was real crummy! For real though, it was pretty good. At the start, I found it very comfortable to just take it in, and then that feeling drained away as I got to know the brothers better. Still, I really appreciated Robert's, what should I call it, emotional honesty? It's not just a lack of pretense, it's his willingness to try and understand why he is the way he is. Spatulater bro! posted:For example, when Max talks about his "molestation phase" wherein he would grope women on busses, Both Max and Robert giggle about it as if they're talking about a joke someone told. I don't know exactly what it's like to witness the casual conversations of serial killers, but I wouldn't be surprised if it looks something like this. It's been a week since I watched it, but: does that scene happen before or after the photo shoot with Robert and the young girls? Because he's kind of play-acting the same thing.
|
|
#
?
Jan 21, 2021 01:07
|
|
|
Kazzah posted:It's been a week since I watched it, but: does that scene happen before or after the photo shoot with Robert and the young girls? Because he's kind of play-acting the same thing. It's after, though I don't recall the girls in the photo shoot being young. Not minors I mean.
|
|
#
?
Jan 21, 2021 01:58
|
|
|
Yeah this movie is a brilliant way to respectfully exploit how hosed up its subjects are. All of the brothers have deep psychological issues and seeing the productive and unproductive manifestations of that is incredible. It doesn't leer but it does pry and it's a really compelling depiction of the weirder facets of humanity. Caniba is an example of how to do the same subject much worse and unsuccessfully. They're sort of mirrors of hosed upness. Don't watch Caniba. Rewatch Crumb.
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2021 17:54
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 6, 2024 12:45 |
|
|
maybe not the place but what's your problem with Caniba
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2021 21:14
|
|
