movie's 411

>> BIG FISH (2003)

Starring: Albert Finney, Ewan McGreggor, Billy Crudup, and more ...
Director: Tim Burton
Genre: Drama, Comedy




big fish is tim burton's most emotional film since "edward scissorhands". big fish is a pretty obviously weepy tale, and burton has always had an easier time with scenery than sentiment. even though i was pretty much the last of the groups who saw this movie, i still don't exactly know what this movie is all about when i went. usually, i'd find out a little about the movie i want to watch. be it from the trailer, the news, newspapers & magazines, or even the review. but even though people talk about this movie over and over, i still couldn't find out what this movie is about when i walked in to the theater.

big fish may be obvious and contrived, but it's both of those things in a nice, gentle way. will bloom (played by the oh-so-yummy billy crudup) comes home to his father, edward (oscar nominee for this movie, albert finney), who's dying. dad is the kind of storyteller whose stories are great if you've never heard them … and grating once you've heard them for the hundredth time. will's come home to say goodbye, but what he really wants to do is separate his dad's stories from his dad's story … and, while he still can, truly know a man he knows only from anecdotes and exaggerations.

edward's tales of his wild, wandering youth are seen through a hazy gauze of hyperbole, with ewan mcgregor as the young edward traveling to find his fortune and, along the way, finding giants, lost villages, witches and monsters, joining the circus and meeting his true love (allison lohman). edward bloom's travels are cast in the same sort of mystical, misty-eyed, southern-fried magical realism where the bayous and back roads of alabama have mysteries hidden behind every turn.

as showy as finney and mcgregor are at their opposite ends of life -- finney as a gasping, dying patriarch, mcgregor as a golden youth with the promise of life before him -- crudup provides the film with its real emotional resonance. will has spent his whole life infuriated by his dad's "elaborate mythologies," but now says, "my dad talked about a lot of things he never did, and i'm sure he did a lot of things he never talked about; i'm just trying to reconcile the two." crudup likes to play characters (laurel canyon, almost famous) who have a tricky relationship with themselves and others, and will bloom is no exception.

big fish is an exploration of how we become parents to our parents. john august's screenplay adapts a well-loved, slender novel by daniel wallace, and the mix of mad magazine-style surrealism with dry, mark twain-style wit is superbly tuned, although you find yourself wishing for more of it to cut through the sweetness. big fish is one of those films that's crafted to make the audience tear up, but that's about the sum of its gentle, modest ambitions.

i find this movie really emotional in its weird way of tim burton's direction. but as i said in the beginning, this is probably his most emotional directorial experience. i love the movie a lot although i find it hard to understand it in the beginning.. even maybe to the end. but it's a good story telling about life, relationship and a bit of romance. big fish crystalizes this point: romance is knowing the truth of that which is impossible to know. this is story telling in search of human truth. the first 2/3 of the movie is a celebration of the tradition of story telling and the human need to tell, listen, live, and dream stories. each story in this collection would surely be a campfire classic.

in this regard, director tim burton is a master of visually bringing to life these journeys to the unconscious. this film is not "overwhelming" enough to overcome distractions, so don't bother watching it when you have other things on your mind. it is not that kind of escape. instead, approach it like you would a visualization of a piece of literature. this movie is now in line to be my favorite film. go watch it!


>> rated by :: sLesTa | [ ]

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