Criterion Catch-Up 2, Part 2: Crumb

"Presented" by David Lynch, 1994's Crumb is a documentary that will have you saying "wow."  Underground comic pioneer Robert Crumb is already an interesting subject for a documentary, and this film isn't afraid to get into it with his exes, critics and the man himself   This is no puff piece that's going to gloss over the accusations of sexism and racism in his work; it charges headfirst into the worst of it.  But then as director Terry Zwigoff (Ghost World) gets increasingly incredibly candid footage with Crumb's family and delves into their issues of abuse and depression, it goes beyond the man's work to deeper places than almost any documentary about anybody has gone.  The film's most memorable scene for me isn't even about Robert, but his brother Charles, as they discuss his childhood artwork and show how his mental illness transformed his illustrative style into something unique and fascinating.

I've actually had a longer history of re-dipping on this title, but unfortunately I sold off my first two DVD copies before I started this site.  See, originally Crumb was released on DVD by Columbia Tri-Star in 1999.  It was barebones and mis-framed at 1.66:1, but I felt lucky to be able to replace my laserdisc of this quirky doc at all.  Little did I know how well it would wind up getting treated on home video over the years.  Because then in 2006, Sony upgraded it to a special edition, which fixed the framing and added a audio commentary by Zwigoff and Roger Ebert.  I figured that would be the last word.  But then, in 2010, Criterion announced their own edition with a "new, restored high-definition transfer" and over 50 minutes of unused footage.  Well, hot dog, I was in again.  That was early enough in the blu-ray era, though, that I was still buying DVD versions, so that's what I opted for (and that disc I do still have for this comparison).  Eventually, I realized I couldn't live without the proper BD, though, so I quadruple-dipped.

2010 Criterion DVD top; 2010 Criterion BD bottom.

So I'm disappointed we don't still have the older transfers to compare, if only for the fun of it.  But there is an interesting difference between the Criterion DVD and blu even though they were released at the same time.  See, I left the negative space around the first set of shots to show, though they're both 1.33:1, the DVD is window-boxed, I guess out of concern for 4:3 TVs' overscan areas (something Criterion routinely used to take into account).  But they've trusted the BD transfer to go right to the vertical edges (it's still pillar-boxed, of course, because it's a fullscreen film).  So that was a little surprise.  Otherwise it's the same master with the natural boost in clarity with the jump to HD.  It was shot in 16mm, so there's not a ton more detail unveiled, but edges are definitely crisper on the blu.

Both discs offer the original mono in 2.0 with optional English subtitles (as I recall, so did both of the older DVDs), but the BD bumps it up to LPCM.  The audio's never exactly crystalline, but the lossless track has a little extra oomph, which can make it a little easier to make out tossed off moments of dialogue.

So the original Crumb DVD was barebones, and the second introduced that audio commentary by Zwigoff and Ebert.  Apart from a bunch of bonus trailers, that was it.  Well, happily, Criterion was able to preserve that commentary, as well as record one of their own - also with Zwigoff.  The two commentaries weren't recorded to compliment each other, so as you could imagine, there's some repetition between them.  But it's not too much; Ebert manages to make his track distinct, and both tracks have good info in them.  Then there's all that unused footage, which includes everything from Crumb jamming with his band (a side of Crumb not even mentioned in the doc) to a trip to the mall with his wife, and yes, more on his brothers' issues.  Criterion also includes a small stills gallery, a 28-page booklet with notes by critic Jonathan Rosenbaum and a fold-out reproduction of Charles Crumb's art test (as shown in the film).

Never say never, but as a 16mm documentary, I don't imagine a Crumb 4k is around the corner, so even though upgrades have taken me by surprise before, I feel comfortable saying Criterion's blu is probably going to be the definitive release for a long time  We probably have just a slightly better shot in asking for a BD upgrade of Louie Bluie instead.  But really, unless Zwigoff makes a new, attention-getting film, what you see is probably all we're getting.  So it's a good thing they ended on a strong disc here.