By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Tim Burton
Country: united_states
Year: 2015
Running time: 105
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1126590
Thom says: “Tim Burton has had a fascinating career with a diverse number of top-rated films like PEE-WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE, BEETLEJUICE, EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, ED WOOD, & CHARLIE & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY. And yet his PLANET OF THE APES was the worst of the franchise. Somewhat successful vehicles like BATMAN RETURNS, SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET, CORPSE BRIDE, even ALICE IN WONDERLAND showed off his immense skills, but then DARK SHADOWS & SLEEPY HOLLOW were abysmal.
“BIG EYES might well be different than almost all other Burton films because the script is a straight dramatic narrative which is a novel turn. This is the story of Margaret & Walter Keane. Walter Keane was a hugely successful artist back in the 1960s that made a mint of money through his works of art, and especially reproductions of his work. He was famous for painting children with enormous, haunted, dark eyes that had real kitschy appeal. At the time, nearly all serious art critics lambasted the sentimental quality and lack of special skill. What especially bothered me about the paintings was the repeated sameness they showed in work after work after work. I never liked Frida Kahlo either because she put herself in every painting.
“But the real story here is that Walter never painted any of the works; they were all done by his brow-beaten wife Margaret. Portraying her as an indentured servant is a clever turn for the script. It’s somewhat difficult to picture what could have been going on in Margaret’s mind to allow Walter to treat her so shabbily but with the script they have been given Waltz and Adams do their usual magic work here to raise the level of the entire project. I’ve noticed as I’ve gotten older I can lose interest in films rather easily but this one was sharp and the time passed so quickly. And yes, I did notice this was the first time since 1999 that one of his live action films didn’t feature his ex-partner Helena Bonham Carter. 4.5 cats”