Big Fish
I'm a big fan of Tim Burton, so I walked into Big Fish with some trepidation. I was aware that this was Tim's big break - a genre movie that wasn't quite so "genre," just like Sam Raimi directing Spider-man. Would he be able to pull off something that's not quite so dark and wonderful but still retain that magical quality that makes Tim's movies so much fun?
Yes!
This is not to say that Big Fish is a happy-go-lucky film. The plot revolves around Will Bloom, a journalist, and his tenuous relationship with his tall-tale-telling father, Edward Bloom. You see, Edward doesn't just make up stories -- he transforms them into Homeric proportions as he spins each tale for his audiences. What Will found to be a wonderful trait as a boy turned to cynicism and frustration as a man. It's like finding out Santa Claus isn't really but still seeing him every day. What do you say to the man?
Nothing, in Will's case. He had long since stopped talking to his father. But then Edward falls ill and Will is called back home. Thus begins a journey through Edward's life, as told by Edward himself and played out for audience as if it were real.
What's compelling about Big Fish is that the events are played with enough seriousness to take them as truth. Yes, there's a witch with a glass eye, a goat-eating giant, the conjoined singing twins Ping and Jin, and a ghostly town named Spectre. But they are all presented with careful maturity. When one of Ed's young friends looks into the witch's eye, he sees his own death on a toilet bowl as a middle-aged man. You half expect his head to explode or something.
That theme, that Ed knows when he's going to die, is an undercurrent throughout the entire film because it crosses the line between fantasy and reality. If Ed's tales are actually false, if they're complete fabrications, why does a man on his deathbed believe in them so strongly? Is it just desperation? Or are they real, in some way?
The answer is both. Ultimately, Will keeps looking for answers that cannot be found - he wants to know his "real father," but in reality he can't accept who his real father is. It is Will who is the fabrication - he has constructed a form of "normalcy" that doesn't exist and that he judges his father by. In the end, it's not about the veracity of anyone's story...it's about listening. All Will ever wanted to do is have his father listen to him.
And at the end of the film and Edward's life, he finally does. This is an exceptional piece and one Tim should be proud of that still manages to stay true to his fantasy roots and yet takes a serious look at very real issues of death, immortality, and a father and son's affection.
Yes!
This is not to say that Big Fish is a happy-go-lucky film. The plot revolves around Will Bloom, a journalist, and his tenuous relationship with his tall-tale-telling father, Edward Bloom. You see, Edward doesn't just make up stories -- he transforms them into Homeric proportions as he spins each tale for his audiences. What Will found to be a wonderful trait as a boy turned to cynicism and frustration as a man. It's like finding out Santa Claus isn't really but still seeing him every day. What do you say to the man?
Nothing, in Will's case. He had long since stopped talking to his father. But then Edward falls ill and Will is called back home. Thus begins a journey through Edward's life, as told by Edward himself and played out for audience as if it were real.
What's compelling about Big Fish is that the events are played with enough seriousness to take them as truth. Yes, there's a witch with a glass eye, a goat-eating giant, the conjoined singing twins Ping and Jin, and a ghostly town named Spectre. But they are all presented with careful maturity. When one of Ed's young friends looks into the witch's eye, he sees his own death on a toilet bowl as a middle-aged man. You half expect his head to explode or something.
That theme, that Ed knows when he's going to die, is an undercurrent throughout the entire film because it crosses the line between fantasy and reality. If Ed's tales are actually false, if they're complete fabrications, why does a man on his deathbed believe in them so strongly? Is it just desperation? Or are they real, in some way?
The answer is both. Ultimately, Will keeps looking for answers that cannot be found - he wants to know his "real father," but in reality he can't accept who his real father is. It is Will who is the fabrication - he has constructed a form of "normalcy" that doesn't exist and that he judges his father by. In the end, it's not about the veracity of anyone's story...it's about listening. All Will ever wanted to do is have his father listen to him.
And at the end of the film and Edward's life, he finally does. This is an exceptional piece and one Tim should be proud of that still manages to stay true to his fantasy roots and yet takes a serious look at very real issues of death, immortality, and a father and son's affection.
posted by talien | 6:31 AM
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