Customer Reviews

Confessions of Robert Crumb [VHS]

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For those who know much about underground cartoon giant R. Crumb, the "confessions" advertised in this tape's title will be, actually, old news. However, for the many who were completely or only dimly aware of R. Crumb before they may have viewed Terry Zwigoff's great film CRUMB, these CONFESSIONS will provide for a fuller picture of Crumb the family man and sympathetic human being. While Zwigoff's film focused on Crumb as product of a particular (and dysfunctional) family, this one-hour program, written by Crumb himself, is more concerned with Crumb the individual and artist. We also see more of Crumb's wife Aline, a unique and eccentric personality and cartoonist in her own right, and we see the comfortable and cooperative relationship she and her husband share. The film is quite entertaining, with little acted-out scenarios interspersed with the more straightforward interview segments. While both this film and CRUMB are outstanding and gripping as individual viewing experiences, one is advised to see both of them to gain a more three-dimensional view of the enigmatic R.Crumb. Highest recommendation!

True fans of Robert Crumb will get a kick out of this film. If you are an art student or "Comic" buff you will get something out of this film as well. This is a good addition to any Crumb collection.

Since documentaries are featured as extras on many DVDs, there's a growing appetite for this cinematic art form. Criterion is feeding that craving with a series of fascinating glimpses into extraordinary real lives. Two artists that dabbled on the edge of the acceptable are featured in simultaneous releases.

The artistically apposite worlds of Jackson Pollock, and Robert Crumb are revealed in "JACKSON POLLOCK: LOVE AND DEATH ON LONG ISLAND" and "THE CONFESSIONS OF ROBERT CRUMB".

"The Confessions of Robert crumb" was actually written by Crumb himself. This pioneer of bawdy, irreverent, underground comics illustrates his own life from childhood, where he began creating comics with his brothers, to his choice to uproot himself and join the counterculture at the infamous intersections of Haight and Ashbury in San Francisco during the 60s, to his disillusionment and expatriation to France.

It's a hilarious, wild ride with the most "socially acerbic and recognized artists of the American underground comics landscape."

Don't miss this if you like "Fritz the Cat" and the "Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers." Crumb is disturbing and funny.

Is the compulsion to be an artist a kind of sanity? Maybe. They sure go hand in hand if you look at Pollock and Crumb (and many others, for that matter).

I was really surprised how much stuff was repeated in this documentary that was already in Terry Zwigoff's documentary "Crumb." Or did this one come out first? Either way, I like "Crumb" ten times better than this one which is a lukewarm "all right." I think if you have seen "Crumb" and are not a huge Crumb fan you might be happier to pass on this one. If you are a big Crumb fan you want to see everything he's drawn and hear all he and his wife and associates have to say.

I did not much care for the little "skits" that Robert and Aline did for the film. Just didn't work for me.

On the bright side, I saw a few things I'm glad I didn't miss, such as Sophie as a DARLING little girl, a little more information on the background of R. Crumb and his first wife Dana and current wife Aline.

If anything, I felt some disppointment in the myth -- is it myth? -- that R. Crumb was actually attracted to fattish women. This film shows how slender Aline really is, puts more emphasis on Aline's upper arm strength, and uses a woman's bottom as an example of the "bean effect" which I didn't think looked like a very big bottom at all. This film seems to say that the drawings of the bigger women are a bit of a joke or just hostility while what he really goes for is the heavier side of very medium.

Most annoying was the repetition from the other film. Maybe the other film was copying this one. Who knows? If you own Crumb, keep it and be happy. You don't need to purchase this one unless you are one of those collectors that must have "everything." Ugh. No. Not for me. Sorry. I'm just really disappointed...but still a big fan of R. Crumb!