big fish
Director Tim Burton is one of those directors with a unique style, which makes
each film instantly recognisable as his. The story should be odd, the
cinematography and design at least partly dark in a Gothic sort of way, and the
acting should be eccentric, if not over the top. ‘Big Fish’ is Burton’s latest film,
and a typical Burton at that. Steven Spielberg was supposed to make this film
before Burton came aboard, but once you have seen the film, you will realise
this was either Burton’s or no-one’s project.
Edward Bloom (Albert Finney) is an old man, now bed-ridden and dying, and
his son Will (Billy Crudup) has returned to see him, perhaps for one last time.
They never got along very well, because Edward was a teller of tall-tales, all of
which might have been intriguing, but very unlikely true. Will has the impression
Edward never really gave him a chance to get to know his father for whom he
really was, and now it seems almost too late. His mother (Jessica Lange) is not
really helpful in this respect, she only occasionally seems to hint at things in his
stories that might be true, such as the fact that Edward bought a town in his
youth, to save it from destruction.
Will, with the act of sale the in his hands, decides to go and visit the town, and
perhaps discover more about who his father really was. The people that tell him
about his father include lovely old lady Jenny (Helena Bonham-Carter, Burton’s
wife), who seems to have had an affair with his father, or so she would like to
think.
The film shows Edward’s exploits of youth in flashbacks, with Ewan McGregor
as the younger Edward, and Alison Lohman as his girlfriend (later his wife). His
fishy tales are really quite incredible with an assorted range of eccentric
characters, bizarre locations and even stranger happenings. Will Will be able to
find out who his father really was, or does that even matter? Perhaps Edward’s
stories reveal more about whom he aspired to be, and is this the more
important thing in the end.
Burton, as one could expect, handles everything properly and never loses the
overall narrative out of sight, though it must be noted that because the story is
made up of many weird but delightful little tales, the cohesive force of the
overall narrative is less strong, though there is really no other way in which this
particular story could have been told. If one is open to a structure that is more
open and meandering than most, ‘Big Fish’ is a compelling story of stories.
Albert Finney shows us how the big actors act: he is completely convincing as
the older Edward, with a tiny movement of an eyebrow he conveys his
particular fondness of a story he has told but perhaps never lived, though
there is really no big difference to him. Telling the stories was his life. Ewan
McGregor, as the younger version is also apt, with a fairy-tale like air he hops
from one absurdity to the next as if it were the most normal thing on earth.
‘Big Fish’ is a motion-picture about stories and words, but they are very well
illustrated in a typical Burtonesque style: with a view slightly askew of this world,
but a lot more entertaining. ‘Big Fish’ is an enjoyable piece of storytelling,
which, as every good story does, could only improve with repetition.