Director - Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini
American Splendor is a film based on a comic book writer named Harvey Pekar. The film is a mix of documentary and narrative because the Harvey Pekar is seen being interviewed throughout the film but Paul Giamatti is shown playing Pekar’s character. The story starts out with Pekar as a middle aged man who works a government job but through his love of comics he starts to write comics about his own life and gains popular attention.
Instead of having a composer write a score for the film, the film-maker decides to use Jazz all throughout the film. This is in one part due to Jazz being Pekar’s favorite genre. In the beginning of the film, Pekar talks about himself as being an avid record collector and Jazz being the genre he mostly buys. Another reason why Jazz was chosen because Harvey Pekar is complicated, sometimes confusing, but yet sophisticated as a person, just like Jazz music which incorporates a lot of music theory yet musicians inner feelings are put into it which can sometimes be confusing to other listeners.
The pace of the song changes whenever Harvey Pekar’s mood changes. For example, The song Paniots Nine, which is a fast paced song, is used whenever Pekar is on the move going from one place to the other. Paniots Nine is also used when Pekar is depressed about his life and first starts writing comics about himself, however, it is a slower version of the song recorded by a different artist. A song that heavily uses a vibraphone is used when Pekar is shopping at the grocery store to set a browsing mood in the scene.
Brian Herron
1 comment:
Great. This is short, to the point and a very clear cut analysis of the use of music in the film. It might also be interesting to consider how other elements of sound are used, such as sound effects, vocalization, etc.
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