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Volume CXXXIII, Number 12 |
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Get your hook, line, and sinker and catch this Fish
LESLIE BRIDGERS
STAFF WRITER
Tim Burton's Big Fish was nominated for four Golden Globes including Best Picture, but after leaving the theater more thrilled about what it did for my senses than about the substance of the story, it seemed as though the single Oscar nomination for Best Musical Score was more appropriate. However, a second, more attentive screening proved that with a little thematic clarification and through previously unnoticed nuances, Big Fish is, in fact, smart.
The storyline comes together through the narration of Will Bloom (Billy Crudup) as he tries to make amends with his dying father, Edward (Albert Finney). Edward Bloom has spent his life telling his own stories. In a string of extraordinary experiences, reminiscent of those that came upon Forrest Gump, we watch as young Edward (Ewan McGregor) finds himself in the company of witches, carnies, and singing Siamese twins.
At 18 years old, Edward had already conquered the town of Ashton, Alabama. When this local hero volunteers himself to approach a giant that has disrupted the town, he finds that 15-foot Karl (Matthew McGrory) is not the only one that is too big for Ashton. The two leave town together looking for a home that can handle one's tremendous size and the other's excessive ambition. As they are sent off through the streets of supporters, the town witch (Helena Bonham Carter) warns Edward not to "get caught." Edward takes her words to heart as he whacks through spider webs, detangles tree branches, and falls for a woman who is already engaged, coincidently, to Ashton's town jerk.
Edward continues to recount his life through tales that get taller and taller as he tells them. Though the stories entertained Will as a child, as he grows up he begins to find his father's charming tale-spinning repetitive and ridiculous. Though most others brush off and even embrace Edward's skewed version of reality, Will sees his embellishments as a shield keeping him from truly knowing his father. As Will tries to get the real story of his father's life from him, he is only interrupted by more fabrications. As Will rummages through paperwork and contacts his father's old friends, however, he begins to uncover validated versions of the unbelievable episodes and to distinguish between fact and fiction.
Morals abound in Big Fish, which is one reason the whole story is a bit hard to take in at first. Each of Edward's stories has a moral, and he seemingly has a story for every moral there is. However, after weeding through clich‚s about the rewards of taking risks, the payoff of hard work and determination, the value of befriending strangers, and the trouble with a small pond as a home for none other than a "big fish," there is a more important plot with a less obvious lesson.
Between Edward's fantastical flashbacks and the slow, solemn scenes of a very regular family dealing with a very regular reality of life, Burton captures two distinct tones with equal mastery, which makes for a powerful and jarring juxtaposition. Though there may be enough material for two separate films-one a tear-jerking drama, the other a bizarre but light-hearted comedy- together they make a movie that is more than complete. And while it is a lot to stuff into two hours and not everything makes sense, that's kind of the point.
Besides acclaimed leading actors, a strong and eclectic supporting cast, including Danny DeVito as circus ringmaster and Steve Buscemi as a crazed poet, provides peculiarity and consequent humor to the film. Though Big Fish might at times seem more strange than special and more mysterious than magical, it is a fun film that is worth seeing. But, take my word, if you pay it adequate attention, once is enough.
3.5 polar bears out of 4
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