Movie Substrate · Film

American Splendor (2003)

★ 7.2 · 536 ratings on TMDB

Ordinary life is pretty complex stuff

American Splendor poster★ 7.2

An original mix of fiction and reality illuminates the life of comic book hero everyman Harvey Pekar.

DirectorRobert Pulcini, Shari Springer Berman
CastDaniel Tay, Earl Billings, Harvey Pekar, Hope Davis, James McCaffrey, James Urbaniak
GenresComedy, Drama
The emergence reading

American Splendor keeps every mind human — it fights its subject at zero distance. The story fights on E8/E9 of the E0–E14 reality ladder, compressing identity, mortality, media, purpose, grief.

zero-distanceUSidentitymortalitymediapurposegrief
Also inFilms about griefFilms about mortalityFilms about identity
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Same rung, same subject

Films fighting at the same level of reality, about the same things.

Megamind (2010)E8/E9 · identity, mediaWes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)E8/E9 · identity, mediaLeo (2023)E8/E9 · identity, mortalityThe Art of Racing in the Rain (2019)E8/E9 · grief, identitySynecdoche, New York (2008)E8/E9 · identity, mortality8½ (1963)E8/E9 · identity, media

Same subject, different rung

The same preoccupations examined at another scale — one mind versus a nation.

TMNT (2007)E6/E11 · rare rung · identity, purpose

Same people

Shared director or cast.

The Nanny Diaries (2007)dir. Robert PulciniThings Heard & Seen (2021)dir. Robert PulciniGirl Most Likely (2012)dir. Robert PulciniThe Truman Show (1998)Paul GiamattiSan Andreas (2015)Paul Giamatti12 Years a Slave (2013)Paul Giamatti