Very well executed

Admirable film.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

In spite of his genius as an artist, and he no doubt is, I found this movie about his life to be tremendously depressing. It is eye-opening, but after an hour or so, I was ready to put a gun to my head. There seemed to be no joy in his life at all, other than laughing inappropriately at the circumstances of others.

Years before 'Ghost World', Terry Zwigoff first made a name for himself with this documentary about Robert Crumb, author of 'Fritz the Cat' and other raunchy comic strips. The film strikes a nice balance between interviews and montages of Crumb's work; a lot of time is spent on the camera gliding over the inventive images that Crumb generated over the years. His images are provocative and Zwigoff again strikes a great balance between interviewing those who hate his work (believing it sexist, racist and worse) and those who think he is misunderstood. Crumb himself gives sadly little insight into the rhyme and reason behind his work. Early on, he claims to never work with "conscious messages" and later on he admits to having no idea where the inspiration came for a fake advert. Crumb's brothers are also interviewed, and while Robert is the famous one, it is Charles and Maxon who are the most intriguing. Both seem disturbed, whereas Robert is actually well-adjusted and happily married with a doting preteen daughter (though his choice to make her watch 'Goodfellas' is odd). It is hard not to wonder how different the film may have been with Charles and Maxon more in focus. Charles was in fact an accomplished artist himself but unable to ever restrain himself, while Maxon has some perversions, almost as odd as those seen in Robert's comics. 'Crumb' is an interesting documentary either way and even if one finds some of Robert's images offensive, there is no denying the artistry and imagination required to come up with such bizarre concoctions.

This movie could not have been called R. Crumb, because while the movie (indirectly) explores the themes and origins of his art, it is just as much about his troubled family, and how they all ended up where they are.R. Crumb himself seems like a dork that has grown successful and found happiness in that - but at the same time resents all the things that made him a dork in the first place. His obvious love and admiration for his brothers is obvious, but tainted by the reality of their situations."Oh geez" is Crumb's (comic-like) reaction to some of the more horrible stuff his brothers talk about, and he does not reflect over what they are saying (on film). The movie is a honest depiction of Crumb in the sense that he (and people around him) openly talk about his strange (and sometimes scary) sides - but the movie never gets personal for him. Only for his brothers.That said, the documentary does not point to his brothers and say "This is the explanation for Crumb's art". It does not simplify his art, even though some of the people commenting on it in the documentary are clearly trying to. It takes you on a journey through the themes of his art in a way that feels fluid, but that is really done point for point.And that is why this documentary work so well. You feel like you are just following this character, but you are actually being taken into a carefully curated commentary on his work.

Warning! Spoilers ahead! This movie succeeds largely because the documentarian does not inject his bias into the story, nor does he push any sort of agenda. He lets his subjects give their side of the story. He listens to both sides of the argument, whether they approve of what Robert Crumb has done as an artist, or whether he is nothing more than a bizarre pornographer. In all, the neutrality of the movie-maker is this film's best selling point, and I highly recommend this film as one that doesn't beat you over the head with its opinion or message; it lets the subjects do the talking.On the topic of semi-famous underground cartoonist Robert Crumb and his family, the film leaves one with an uneasy feeling at best. Charles, Robert's brother, and his mother reminded me of the recent HBO "Grey Gardens" movie, which itself was based on a documentary. If Robert Crumb can be perceived by some as a stark eccentric who cannot fit in to modern society, at least he has been able to create a stable home life with a loving family of his own. This movie is utterly tragic in its portrayal of Crumb's brothers, Charles and Maxon, especially so since Charles is gifted with exceptional cartooning skills (his artwork looked superior to Robert's best efforts), yet was cursed with severe psychiatric problems which prevented him from entering society as a functional individual. While Robert is a functional member of society, the overall impression the movie gave was that he was somewhat distant from other people, including his kin, and could not pick up easily on the feelings of others. The most poignant example of this was a brief (maybe one minute?) description of his father by Crumb's son from his first wife. Still, it was delightful to see Crumb nurture his children by helping them do artwork of their own.On the surface, Crumb may seem like a unique if peculiar individual: snobbish, detached from the outside world, relishing in dressing in anachronistic clothing and listening to old jazz records. Still, the impression was of a kind-hearted individual who found release through art. I did enjoy the movie's inclusion of those who objected to Crumb's art as blatantly pornographic, though my sense is that Crumb's work does not have the mainstream popularity which would make it troubling to society at large, nor the messages in his illustrations singularly sexual, to classify it as straightforwardly pornographic.A solid effort. I highly recommend this film to those who love documentaries.