Crumb has not gotten its due credit. Very few films of the 1990s have been universally accepted as masterpieces. Crumb should definitely have been one of the few. On the back of the video's box, it proclaims "one of the most critically acclaimed films of all time." It is probably the only film of the decade besides _Schindler's List_ that could have claimed that without stretching the truth. Every critic proclaimed that it was one of the very best films of the year it was released. Gene Siskel put it as his #1 picture for the year (having said in his original review "I doubt I'll see a better movie this year"), and Roger Ebert put it as his #2 only after _Leaving Las Vegas_ (the only 1990s film I'd put above it myself, too).
So why do I claim that it is so great? Well, I particularly think that documentaries are much more important than fiction films if they are done well. The purpose of t] art is to study and try to educate us about human nature. Documentaries, since they are fact and not fiction, logically can tell us more about human nature than fiction films, which can tell us about human nature, but they necessarily teach it through the eyes of the artists who created the work. For instance, _Hoop Dreams_, which has been accepted by many already to be a masterpiece, s by far the best sports film ever made. No fiction film could have had more insight into the appeal of sports. Also, it is one of the most important films ever made to deal with racial issues for the same reason.
Crumb is the most important film ever made on the subject of the artist. Never has a film had more insight into an artist's work than Crumb does into R. Crumb. Each time I watch it, his artwork becomes more deep and complex. Each drawing becomes extremely multi-layered. R. Crumb was hardly inhibited while Zwigoff was filming him, nor were the other people who were interviewed. Crumb spares none of his personal life. Because of this, we learn more about him than we have ever learned about a single fictional character in film history. Not Charles Foster Kane, not Jake LaMotta, not Travis Bickle. No one.
R. Crumb is also extremely anti-capitolistic. I love this! He has inspired me with his thoughts. He never existed as an artist to make money. He has enough to exist happily, but he does not live in a mansion, nor does he own a sports team. He does not own a fleet of vehicles. In fact, he can't even drive!
So why do I claim that it is so great? Well, I particularly think that documentaries are much more important than fiction films if they are done well. The purpose of t] art is to study and try to educate us about human nature. Documentaries, since they are fact and not fiction, logically can tell us more about human nature than fiction films, which can tell us about human nature, but they necessarily teach it through the eyes of the artists who created the work. For instance, _Hoop Dreams_, which has been accepted by many already to be a masterpiece, s by far the best sports film ever made. No fiction film could have had more insight into the appeal of sports. Also, it is one of the most important films ever made to deal with racial issues for the same reason.
Crumb is the most important film ever made on the subject of the artist. Never has a film had more insight into an artist's work than Crumb does into R. Crumb. Each time I watch it, his artwork becomes more deep and complex. Each drawing becomes extremely multi-layered. R. Crumb was hardly inhibited while Zwigoff was filming him, nor were the other people who were interviewed. Crumb spares none of his personal life. Because of this, we learn more about him than we have ever learned about a single fictional character in film history. Not Charles Foster Kane, not Jake LaMotta, not Travis Bickle. No one.
R. Crumb is also extremely anti-capitolistic. I love this! He has inspired me with his thoughts. He never existed as an artist to make money. He has enough to exist happily, but he does not live in a mansion, nor does he own a sports team. He does not own a fleet of vehicles. In fact, he can't even drive!