American splendor

The life and times of American comic book writer Harvey Pekar - meet the real man, and the actor playing him (Paul Giamatti), in a movie about his “ordinary life”. Based on Harvey’s comic book “American Splendor” written by Harvey and illustrated by R.Crumb, he details the mundanities of ordinary life in such a way that makes for a great commentary on working class life in everyday America. The film covers the period of Harvey’s life when he gets divorced, looses his voice and compulsively collects old jazz records, to the time when he meets his new wife (Hope Davis), goes on the “Letterman” show to promote the comic, gets cancer and goes on to be part of this film. Cleverly realised we traverse his life via comics and actors, as well as interjections from the real Harvey, making an “ordinary life” quite compelling viewing.