« Reply #23 on: August 19, 2013, 12:28:16 PM »
Crumb
Terry Zwigoff, 1994
Votes | Average | St Dev | Rank |
14 | 6.98 | 2.076 | 78 |
Vote Distribution 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
- | - | 1 | 1 | - | - | 2 | 2 | 6 | 2 | - |
The best part about Crumb, from what I remember, was going from thinking Crumb was pretty nuts to thinking that, compared to the rest of his family, he was an absolute rock.
The crazy thing here is that Robert Crumb himself isn't even the most interesting character in this film. His opinion on women and sex and everything can be seen in any of his comics or drawings, and so the doc isn't really telling us all that much. I found his two brothers however to be very fascinating, both of them, also great artists in their own right yet completely socially inept. Their tragic lives are of great interest and Crumb's laid back attitude towards them (as well as almost everything) is a somewhat depressing one.
Crumb did nothing for me though I probably saw it 10 years ago so.
It's a good film, a portrait of a unique artist and the outside forces that drive his work. The best bits are when he watches people and immediately draws them, filling the frame with his personal demons and insecurities. Crumb also makes an excellent defense for the sexism and racism in his work, spinning it back onto the people who find it offensive. ... What wasn't as compelling was Crumb's family. Yes, they certainly provided context and set up the environment that created Crumb (and an entire family of artists), but Zwigoff is only using them for context. He isn't out to analyze the Crumb family, and so I got the point with them fairly quickly. The more time spent, the more it felt like Zwigoff was gawking at their odd behavior like characters at a carnival freak show.

Logged
Great | Near Great | Very Good | Good | Fair | Mixed | Middling | Bad