I, Curmudgeon directed by Alan Zweig

Review: I, Curmudgeon

October 1, 2004

Watched I, Curmudgeon at the Vancouver International Film Festival.

An excellent, if imperfect film—and intentionally imperfect, I believe, as we see shots of the director Alan Zweig setting up the camera and people in the top-left corner of the frame at different points. Not so much a documentary as a set of interviews with self-described negative people, people whom their friends would label curmudgeons. Zweig answered the question on everybody's mind after the show by saying that he did not put name labels on each of the interviewees, although they are named in the credits, because while some were famous, it was more important to show that they were people instead of famous people. I saw myself in a lot of those people, like Harvey Pekar, who said that the only time he enjoys life is when he's exhausted, because he's not nervous then (same here), and especially (my being a 26-year-old and all) the guy in his late twenties who remarked how fucked up it is that he didn't get laid in college (same here). I saw this film alone, despite asking publicly if anybody would have liked to join me. Not enough lead time, I was told by one, but even still, I made a small effort to do something with someone and nobody says they want to come do it with me. Bah humbug. I'm a 26-year-old grump, but this movie will hopefully make me reconsider the costs and the payoffs of being a grump.

I've written about this movie (or linked to quotes about it) a few times since seeing it:

a quote from Chuck about the movie
Second Act, in which I discuss how the director Alan Zweig was reflecting on the second act of a three-act life
A Jaundiced, Misanthropic, Narcissistic, Defensive, Dismissive, and Embittered Outlook On Life, which features 3 quotes, 2 from Joe Clark, with substantial commentary from yours truly
Some Reaction Against a Society That They Believe Has Rejected Them, on how non-curmudgeons would react if they saw "the truth" as curmudgeons see it
a link and quote to commentary about the movie's lack of subtitles (not transcript subtitles, but those that announce who is speaking)

tags: Alan Zweig, Harvey Pekar, VIFF

Something We're All Feeling Right Now

November 4, 2004

Chuck on I, Curmudgeon, a movie that has been lingering with me ever since I saw it: “it tapped into something, something we're all feeling right now, and there's something good in that feeling and we need it. And it was funny, and I wish all of my friends could have been there.”

tag: Alan Zweig

Second Act

December 2, 2004

adam saw I, Curmudgeon, a documentary interviewing serveral grumpy or "negative" people as well as a first-hand narrative my director Alan Zweig, which I really enjoyed and still lingers: “Yeah I know you all saw it at the film festival but I don't get out much. Noted curmudgeons explain that no, we aren't really cynics, we're jaded idealists, and no we won't shut up.” The following is adapted from the comment that I wrote to that entry:

Not sure if he was were being sarcastic, but this movie actually did cheer me up, though it did take me a couple days to understand. If you'll allow me to explain: I'm in my mid-twenties, and in the documentary Alan said something about being in the third act of his life, looking back at the second act feeling miserable about himself. I've just started the second act of my life, and after hearing what Alan had to say, I've started a) shrugging at the inconsequential stuff everybody complains about, like Britney Spears and other fluffery, because you know, I really can't do anything about it, and b) wondering how I can avoid the traps Alan fell into. At least knowing that there are traps is going to be an important step of not falling into them.

This is an important documentary for me personally, and I absolutely can't wait to get it on DVD so I can play it for my friends, some of whom I "saw" in the movie. Adam posts some of the quotes from it, too, and there were some really great ones, like the guy who didn't get laid until he was 24 and how "fucked up" (his words) that was, or like the guy you quoted, about people watching TV just waiting to die. I have an act and two thirds or so to go in my life, and I want to use them to live, dammit!

A Jaundiced, Misanthropic, Narcissistic, Defensive, Dismissive, and Embittered Outlook On Life

December 14, 2004

Erik on I, Curmudgeon: “Zweig interviews personal friends and public figures who share a jaundiced, misanthropic, narcissistic, defensive, dismissive, and embittered outlook on life. Unlike some of his subjects, Zweig never takes the easy cop-out of claiming that curmudgeons are simple truth-tellers who are isolated by the conformism that unites others. He disects the self-deceptions and the self-serving fictions served up by the curmudgeonly.”

Joe Clark writing in May of this year: “I am here to tell you right now that almost every part of my life was up there on the screen and I was thrilled out of my mind for the first half-hour. I can back up everything they say; look in particular for Toby Young’s recounting what happens when he walks across a crowded room. Then the repeated truths, the self-recognition, and the sheer length caused me to get a bit blasé, itself a curmudgeonly reaction.”

Joe Clark again, writing in December 2004: “a second viewing of most of I, Curmudgeon reinforced my reservations from the first viewing. In fact, slouching in the armchair at my esteemed colleague’s pad, the longer I watched the show the more morose and self-denigrating I became. (The movie is its own party mix; you can talk right over it.) The initial half-hour still is a triumph of identification (“I’m like that!”); the rest of it is a symptom of Zweig’s unerring fatal instinct toward the downward spiral. He picks at scabs and revels in misanthropy. If I may resort to neologism (Calvin: “Verbing weirds English!”), he tends to loserize.”

Joe reports feeling down after viewing the movie, and I felt down the first few hours afterwards as well. But having slept that off, I realized that the movie was showing me a version of my future. That version is not pleasant: I don't want to be in the 3rd act of my life reflecting on how crappy the 2nd act (now) was. In order to do that, I've been seeking out beauty, and talking walks outside, accepting invitations to socialize, and trying to feel better about myself, both physically and mentally. It's always a challenge in the winter, but talking long walks (as opposed to riding a stationary bike) and getting a job that I enjoy have helped a lot. A lot of the necessary pieces of a puzzle are starting to fit together, and rather than complain about my situation—see this weblog circa 2003 for a lot of projection of complaints about my life onto matters of a societal nature—this weblog for the year 2004 has highlighted a lot of writing and movies and whatever else that may appear to some as saccharine but really is a mark of my changing tastes and attitude towards life.

There are people who complain about this famous pop singer's multiple failed marriages and that politician's grasp of the English language, but these people need to let go. I'm finally able to recognize that these people revel in pointing out how horrible life is, and sometimes they're right, but they only care about that one side. The history of complaining about the decline of humanity is a field fertile enough for a second-year level course at a state college. Some people benefit from being a curmudgeon, like in terms of attention or money or fame, but thankfully these people are relatively few. They claim to know the truth, and that the truth is awful. If they really knew how much hard work and how tiring it is being a curmudgeon and take a break from it once in a while, they'd stop forever. I'm in the process of quitting myself, and as a relatively old habit, it's been a challenge to catch myself in the mode, but I'm finding it remarkably easy to think to myself, "you know what, this doesn't actually affect me, I just think it does" and "this is crap, but it doesn't matter because I know where to find the good stuff".

tag: Alan Zweig

Some Reaction Against a Society That They Believe Has Rejected Them

December 18, 2004

tyne, on whether non-curmudgeons, if they saw "the truth", would see it as negatively as curmudgeons do: “I question the validity of this claim for many reasons, some stemming from the fact that most curmudgeons seem to be motivated less from knowledge of their own mortality, than some reaction against a society that they believe has rejected them. But, putting this aside, still this claim lacks something. Is it really more logical to be pessimistic than optimistic? Are optimistic people delusional, are they naive, are they uninformed? Or do these characteristics more accurately describe the pessimist?”

Nobody Really Believes Himself to Be Like That

February 8, 2005

David on I, Curmudgeon director Alan Zweig: “Motivation and confidence restored, he sets out to get a better understanding of his (and others') mental state. He interviews 20 or so fellow travelers. The results are amusing and sad, readily recognizable, and yet foreign because nobody really believes himself to be like that.”

Any Flow to the Film is Broken

May 22, 2005

Alonzo Mosley (also available at Blogcritics.org) on I, Curmudgeon directed by Alan Zweig, screened at the Jacksonville Film Festival:“I actually had really high hopes for this one, but it all kind of fell flat for me. I think one of the biggest mistakes of the film is that there are never any subtitles to indicate who the person is being interviewed. This may seem like a small thing, but any flow to the film is broken by the fact that we have no bearings with any of these people. I only recognized Comic book writer Harvey Pekar, former Kids in the Hall Scott Thompson, and Andy Rooney (who appears in exactly one clip compared to the multiples of all the others, and in that one only expresses bewilderment at what Zweig is trying to do here).”

I'm guessing that Zweig didn't address the audience after the showing of the film, as he did at the Vancouver International Film Festival. There he explained that he didn't want subtitles because he felt that what the people had to say was much more important than who they were.

Further commenting on the film: “So what we have is a roundtable of people bitching about their lives of bitching. Zweig does try to put some form to the work on occasion, such as his repeated question to several subjects about the "Emperor Has No Clothes" story, but it's not enough. There are amusing anecdotes and stories here (most memorable is one guy describing how he could start developing a positive outlook on life if it weren't for the existence of jetskis), but it's not enough to hold it together.”

Again missing the point: Zweig was trying to get across the idea that bitching about everything is a waste of time. He tells the story of he was entering the third act of his life having just spent the second act not enjoying it. Rather than comment any further, I direct readers to the links at the bottom of my review of the movie.