American Splendor

In the article, “When is a Documentary?: Documentary as a Mode of Reception”, Dirk Eitzen struggles with the concept of what constitutes a documentary. In his discussion he states that, “All documentaries- whether they are deemed, in the end, to be reliable or not- revolve around questions of trust.” Due to this issue of trust documentary filmmaking has become quite controversial and difficult to define. Eitzen provides several definitions but refutes any of them as “satisfactory” failing to find a clear distinction between fiction and nonfiction filmmaking. American Splendor, solves this problem in the creation of a unique film that is neither fiction nor non-fiction, but rather something in between. The film is about the life of the author of the underground American comic book. Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman, both documentary film directors who for the first time converged their style with the biopic genre, directed the film. Because the film was not categorized with one particular genre the directors were given creative license to depict the story of Harvey Pekar in accordance with their own personal visions. But, at the same time were able to gain the trust of the viewer by combining fictional representation and reality, achieved by introducing the real Harvey Pekar through real life interviews and video clips. The convergence between documentary and biopic also enabled Pulcini and Berman to take the viewer back in time. The film begins with a scene from Pekar’s childhood on Halloween night in Cleveland. The scene introduces Pekar as a young child struggling to fit in amongst a group of “super heroes”, foreshadowing his career in unconventional, cynical comic books. Although, the film quickly transitions into Pekar’s adulthood this opening scene tells the viewer a lot about Pekar personality and social behaviors. The films main convergence with the documentary style is through interviews with the real Harvey Pekar. The film references the transitions between the real Harvey and the “fake” Harvey played by Paul Giamatti through the narrative. During the first transition Harvey Pekar states, “and now here is the guy playing me in the movie.” The interviews with the real Harvey Pekar are filmed in an all white room referencing the white blocks that make up a comic strip. Objects from Pekar’s comic stories and life are placed in the room depicting Pekar’s ability to apply his real life experiences and emotions into his work. Pulcini states, “We wanted a very different style for the documentary parts of the film. We decided that would be the place where we’d have a very artificial look, where we’d create a comic book panel look, with very vibrant colors and just a few well-placed items in the frame amidst a lot of empty, white space.” In the “white” space we are also introduced to Harvey’s wife Joyce, played in the film by Hope Davis and adopted daughter Danielle played in the film by Madylin Sweetin, both who are depicted in the biopic narrative. The film integrates these frames of white space into the fictional narrative, when Paul Giamatti sketches his comic strips on white pieces of construction paper. These scenes are shot close-up focusing only on the white piece of paper and the objects and words Pekar (Giamatti) draws in them. Puccini and Berman add another dimension to the film by inserting clips from Pekar’s famous appearances on the David Letterman Show. During these clips the film transitions back and forth from the biopic narrative to the documentary by showing Hope Davis watching the real Harvey Pekar through the viewing screen in the dressing room. This scene shows how the narrative of the film is directly referencing the real life of Harvey Pekar and his experiences. Puccini and Berman add another interesting aspect to the convergence between documentary and biopic when they introduce Giamatti and Judah Friedlander who plays Pekar’s co-worker Toby Radloff, to the real Harvey and Toby. Giamatti and Friedlander enter the white “space” of the documentary and are filmed watching the real Harvey and Toby interact in the foreground of the shot. This scene legitimizes the depictions of the real Harvey and Toby in the film as the viewer is informed that they actors have met the people they are playing in the film. Therefore they have studied their personality, voice, body language, social tendencies, etc. In the final scene of the film, we see Paul Giamatti walking down the streets of Cleveland, the figure then transitions into the real Harvey Pekar as he enters into his office and retirement party. At the party Pekar is joined by the real Joyce, Danielle, Toby and other co-workers leaving the viewer with the feeling that they have experienced the “real” life of Harvey Pekar.