Crumb (1994)

If you saw Ghost World 2000 a few years back, directed by Terry Zwigoff, then you won’t want to miss his documentary Crumb (1994).

It’s a fascinating look at a controversial cartoonist/artist, Robert Crumb, his work and his bizarre family. He’s the guy that dreamed up Fritz the Cat and those Keep on Truckin’ characters that ended up on millions of mud flaps. His art is extremely creative, racist, sexist, pornographic and often just weird. It’s hard to believe that he’s a functioning human being when you look at his two brothers—both have been institutionalized, suffer from depression and just look strange. A year after the film came out. One of his brothers committed suicide.

The more I watched the film, the more I realized that Steve Buscemi’s character is based on Robert Crumb. Some of the main themes that run through Ghost World come directly from Crumb—his complaint that our world is becoming too commercialized with strip malls, big box retail stores, logos on everything from t-shirts to foreheads.

I haven’t even discussed Crumb’s wives or kids. For that you’ll have to watch the documentary. I think Zwigoff does an excellent job of giving us a glimpse into the bizarre world of Robert Crumb.

Posted in DVD Reviews at 4:09 PM