American Splendor

The tale of ornery Cleveland file clerk Harvey Pekar, Splendor is partly based on a series of autobiographical comics written by Pekar. In some ways a commentary on biopics themselves, Pekar and his wife Joyce appear at several points to comment on the film and on the actors—Paul Giamatti and Hope Davis—playing them on screen. Seeing and hearing the real Pekar only goes to show what a bangup performance Giamatti gave.
I'm Not There

If it wasn’t obvious that director Todd Haynes studied semiotics at Brown University, it should have been after I’m Not There. A skewed take on the biopic genre, Haynes’ film uses half a dozen actors to play Bob Dylan during various periods of his life. Christian Bale is the Jesus-fied Dylan, Richard Gere is the cowboy outlaw Dylan, and Cate Blanchett does incredible mimicry as Don’t Look Back-era Dylan. It’s a radical take on one of our most unknowable of American artists.













