Garden Splendor Bouquet

The best thing about the film adaptation of American Splendor is that it captures Harvey Pekar's unique voice, and the comic book's bristly tone. This is no small feat. Directors/screenwriters Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini cannily integrate documentary footage of Pekar, his wife, Joyce Brabner, and others commenting on the film and the real events that the film depicts. A black-and-white animated version of Pekar also appears frequently. At one point, Pekar (Paul Giamatti) leaves Brabner...

The gay coming-of-age story seems to have an unshakable hold on the imaginations of novelists and filmmakers the world over, but this picturesque French effort doesn't add too much to the already well-defined genre except a mood of sun-dappled sensuality, a dose of inarticulate angst, and a formal playfulness that isn't as well-executed as it could be. The film's script, by director Sebastien Lifschitz and his writing partner Stephane Bouquet, attempts to mirror protagonist Mathieu's sexual and emotional...