American Splendor

Highly original and extremely imaginative, American Splendor is a rich, densely layered comedy drama cum biopic. For the most part, the superb Paul Giamatti plays Harvey Pekar, a clerk at a Cleveland hospital who became something of a cult comic book hero by documenting the sheer mundanity of his everyday existence in a series of graphic novels which have become underground classics. Stuttering through life, Harvey's shambolic ways are expertly charted, from his curious relationship with his self-confessed nerd king best pal Toby (Friedlander) to his relationship with the equally caustic Joyce Brabner (Hope Davis). What makes American Splendor so unique, however, is the means in which the story is delivered: a mixture of animation, biopic and documentary, with the real Pekar and Brabner showing up to offer their thoughts on what's going on, even as the action is integrated with surreal animated interludes.

Frighteningly ambitious but realised with a surehand and grace that defies the sheer complexity of the approach adopted by the two directors, American Splendor is as sharp and offbeat a movie as you're likely to see. Eccentric but lovable, the central character, like the film, is delivered in a startlingly unusual tone, which manages to be both charming and offensive, often at the same time. Which just about sums up American Splendor.