American Splendor (film)

American Splendor is a 2003 American biographical comedydrama film about Harvey Pekar, the author of the American Splendor comic book series. The film is also in part an adaptation of the comics, which dramatize Pekars life. The film was written and directed by documentarians Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini.

Though Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini had directed documentaries before, American Splendor was their first narrative feature. Of the films alternating of fictional portrayals with reallife appearances by Pekar and his friends and family, cowritercodirector Pulcini recalled, It really was the only way that made sense to tell that story because we were handed this stack of comic strips where the main character never really looks the same because hes drawn by so many different artists. We wondered how to stay true to the material, and thats the concept we came up with. The structure came out of that very naturally. It wasnt something that we labored over. Berman added that upon meeting Pekar they felt compelled to include him in the film. We also got to know Harvey even before we wrote the screenplay. We actually went to Cleveland and spent time with Harvey and Joyce, and spoke to them on the phone a lot. Once we spent some time with both of them, we were like, Oh my God, we have to put them in the movie That was a case where we were still using our documentary instincts and had to figure out a way to include him in it that was a natural fit for the material.On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 94 approval rating, based on 181 reviews, with an average rating of 8.310. The sites critical consensus reads, Exhilarating both stylistically and for its entertaining, moving portrayal of an everyman, American Splendor is a portrait of a true underground original. On Metacritic, the film also has a score of 90 out of 100, based on 42 reviews, indicating universal acclaim. ........

Source: Wikipedia