Documentary Pick: Dear Mr. Watterson (2013)
Becoming reclusive seems to be a common plot point in the lives of men with great vision. Howard Hughes holed himself up in a Vegas hotel in fear of germs, and J.D. Salinger shirked the spotlight and acclaim from Catcher in the Rye to lead a quiet life in Connecticut. Somewhat less well known, but no less influential, cartoonist Bill Watterson also bunkered down after wrapping up Calvin & Hobbes – not that he was super-accessible to begin with.
Fortunately for director Joel Allen Schroeder, he’s not interested in making a comic strip variation of Matt Austin’s “In Search of…” John Hughes documentary Don’t You Forget About Me. The pre-occupation in Dear Mr. Watterson is the lasting influence of Watterson’s seminal strip, especially in light of the fact that beyond the book collections, Watterson has avoided any form of mass marketing of this characters. In the midst of the non-stop drone of pop culture across all platforms, how does a newspaper comic strip still carry such fascination nearly 20 years after it ended?
There’s nothing to Dear Mr. Watterson that really breaks the mould for either the documentary form, the critical examination of Watterson’s work or the greater medium of the comic strip. If you are a Calvin & Hobbes fan, like me, you’re likely drawn to anything remotely associated with that strip, and since there’s so little new Calvin & Hobbes material, you devour every second of a film like this. It’s like getting together with a friend you grew up with and haven’t talked to in a while, and there’s a sense of catharsis because here is a person you share something with that only they understand.
One moment where Dear Mr. Watterson transcends the Calvin & Hobbes love-in is when Schroeder visits the town of Chagrin Falls, OH where Watterson grew up, and where a lot of the scenery in the background of the strip resides in real life. The comparison between the real life downtown of Chagrin Falls and the drawing of a giant Calvin laying waste to it offers an all-too-brief, insightful moment into the mind of an artist beyond his awesomeness and influence. Watterson is indeed awesome, and this movie is for those who know it and want to celebrate it.