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Big Fish Review

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发表于 2008-3-15 21:40:49 | 显示全部楼层 |阅读模式
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Big Fish is one of those films that isn't likely to be a strong box office performer, but which will probably generate a more lasting impression once it is available for home viewing. Despite a well-known director (Tim Burton) and recognizable performers (Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Jessica Lange, Danny DeVito), the film is a little too off the beaten path to find full mainstream acceptance. With a whimsical, fairy-tale approach reminiscent of The Princess Bride and Terry Gilliam's fractured fables, the movie has the ability to enchant and amuse, but it is not a traditionally commercial property. (Hopefully, the viewing population will prove me wrong, but I somehow doubt it.)
Big Fish is the tale of how a son, William Bloom (Billy Crudup), tries to piece together a picture of the life of his father, Edward (Albert Finney), based on the facts he can uncover, the accounts of his mother, Sandy (Jessica Lange), and the tall tales told by the old man. Edward is an inveterate storyteller, with a penchant for embellishing events from his own life. As William puts it, "In telling the story of my father's life, it's impossible to separate fact from fiction, the man from the myth." But now Edward is dying and William must come to terms with all aspects of his father - the real and the imaginary. In the process, he discovers that some of Edward's supposed fantasies aren't as outlandish as he supposed.
Large chunks of Big Fish dramatize Edward's most impressive stories: how, as a boy, he had the courage to approach a witch and ask to see his future; how his growth spurt led him to seek out "bigger things;" how, as a young man (Ewan McGregor), he discovered the secret town of Spectre, and later met the love of his life, Sandy (Alison Lohman), at a circus. There are other tales, too - of giants, lycanthropes, armed robberies that don't go as planned, secret missions, Siamese twins, and fishing expeditions. In addition to telling a wonderful fairy tale, Burton is lauding the importance of storytelling and emphasizing the need to keep some element of magic and mystery in a world that has become coldly cynical.
Unlike in many of Burton's previous movies, there is no cynicism here, and hardly any darkness. The film retains the director's trademark quirkiness, which resides somewhere between Terry Gilliam and David Lynch, but is entirely optimistic. Unless you count the disease that has numbered Edward's days or the antagonism that has developed between father and son, Big Fish has no villains, nor does it require any. And, although there is a bittersweet quality to the ending, it is ultimately uplifting and optimistic. Burton has grown with this film, but without really expanding the envelope too far.
Big Fish takes place in a fantasy realm with just enough connection to the real world that we feel a certain sense of comfortable familiarity with the settings. This is Alabama, not J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth. Yet Big Fish goes far beyond what is commonly referred to as "magical realism" without quite reaching the level of the classic Tall Tale (although it comes close at times). It works. We smile at all the right moments - such as when time stops when Edward first sees his true love - and feel a sense of pathos when the truth behind Edward's "double life" is revealed.
One of Big Fish's nice touches is to have the actors who play the younger versions of the characters resemble those who play the older ones. Part of this results from natural physical similarities, but the makeup artists must also be given a nod. The transition from Ewan McGregor to Albert Finney is not difficult to accept, and the change from Alison Lohman to Jessica Lange is easier. This might seem to be a small point, but it was the extreme mismatch between Wentworth Miller and Anthony Hopkins that torpedoed The Human Stain for me. Lohman (who appeared earlier this year in Ridley Scott's Matchstick Men) is especially good, as is McGregor, who adds another oddball credit to an incredibly varied resume. If there's an acting disappointment, it's Billy Crudup, who gives a somewhat flat interpretation of Edward's grown-up son. Supporting players include Danny DeVito as a circus owner, Helena Bonham Carter as a woman who pines for Edward's affection, and Steve Buscemi as a crook-turned-stockbroker (the film argues it's not much of a career change).
Big Fish is a little too uneven to attain the same level as something like The Wizard of Oz or The Princess Bride, but it's in the same general vicinity. There's a sense that a few dead spots could have been eliminated and the whole project tightened up, but those are relatively minor quibbles. Big Fish is a clever, smart fantasy that targets the child inside every adult, without insulting the intelligence of either.
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发表于 2008-3-19 00:08:40 | 显示全部楼层

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