"Crumb"

-directed by Terry Zwigoff
1994
A documentary about cartoonist R. Crumb, creator of Zap Comix, Mr. Natural, and Fritz the Cat. It explores his work, life, and family (or at least those who agreed to appear). The viewer is invited to decide whether Crumb's work crossed a line between social satire and masturbatory misogyny. This is one of a tiny handful of the most rawly transformative films i've ever seen. It's a document (intentional?) on how living in this world mutilates us all, and how some internalize/rationalize/deny it less well than others. Crumb's family are a compelling example of how even intelligent people can be mutilated, and have only a hazy notion of what happened, or why. The film is also a bracing dose of anti-Hollywood reality - all the media images that pour through our brains are so relentlessly polished and homogenized (including many documentary films), that we begin to believe that's what people are really like. Seeing a film like this, with very real, very damaged people shown naturally (or as naturally as possible when cameras are rolling), one's sense of reality is turned at a disconcerting angle. You might have the urge to believe that it's a put-on...that these are circus creations, not possibly real...until you finally accept that these are the same people you've known and seen all your life, not in movies, but in your family and at work and on the street. One of the interviewed family members committed suicide within a year of filming, and it's fascinating to ponder a possible connection. Because Crumb is the subject of the film, and we live in a mythologizing culture of celebrity, you might be tempted to view him as some elevated hero (or anti-hero). But keep looking, make a conscious effort to put that filter aside, and CRUMB might just leave you dizzy, dazed, or disturbed.