Crumb (1994)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Terry Zwigoff

Release Date:

28 April 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | Biography

Tagline:

Weird sex · Obsession · Comic books

Plot:

A cinematic portrait of the controversial comic book writer/artist and his traumatized family.

Plot Keywords:

Art | Satire | Underground | Comic Book | Consumerism

Awards:

13 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Robert Crumb	...	Himself
Aline Kominsky	...	Herself (as Aline Crumb)
Charles Crumb	...	Himself
Maxon Crumb	...	Himself
Robert Hughes	...	Himself
Martin Muller	...	Himself
Don Donahue	...	Himself
Dana Morgan	...	Herself (as Dana Crumb)
Trina Robbins	...	Herself
Spain Rodriguez	...	Himself
Bill Griffith	...	Himself
Deirdre English	...	Herself
Peggy Orenstein	...	Herself
Beatrice Crumb	...	Herself
Kathy Goodell	...	Herself

MPAA:

Rated R for graphic sex-related cartoons, and for language.

Runtime:

119 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | France:U | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Superior Pictures

Trivia:

Prior to the film's release, Robert Crumb's brother Charles committed suicide.

Goofs:

Factual errors: "San Francisco" is misspelled in the closing titles. The caption reads: "Max Crumb still lives in San Francicsco".

Quotes:

Robert Crumb: France isn't - you know - perfect, or anything, but - it's just - oh, slightly less evil than the United States.

Movie Connections:

References Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)

Soundtrack:

Frog-I-More Rag

An unusual tribute to the artistic mind

A great movie about how expressing yourself through art can save your sanity. People who didn't know anything about R. Crumb beforehand (like me) can get a look at what drives the stories and characters in his often vulgar artwork and comics. For instance, any of the villains in his work are based on people who made his life a living hell when he was kid. Decades after the fact he still seems to be nurturing those old grudges. At first it seems a bit petty and immature but then we meet his two brothers. They are both talented artists as well but they never learned to express themselves through their works as Robert did. They never found an outlet for their obsessions. Charles became an introvert who hadn't left his mother's house for many years and Maxon developed a fondness for sexual harassing women and sitting on nails. It was probably Robert Crumb's art that enabled him to escape from his own head.

All three brothers talk in a very articulate yet somewhat detached manner. You get the sense of love between them, buried beneath decades of pain and emotional repression. When a picture of them as teenagers sitting next to each other on the couch is shown, all of them handsome and apparently very intelligent and artistic, I felt sad and maybe even a little mad. Why were they "chosen" to be the big victims in life? Poor Charles Crumb never had a chance. Crumb is a great movie that probes the darker corners of human emotions (Bobby Driscoll?!) and a tribute to the usefulness of an artistic mind. **** out of ****