Big Eyes (2014)
Certified: 12A
Duration: 106 minutes
Directed by: Tim Burton
Starring: Amy Adams, Christoph Waltz, Danny Huston, Jon Polito, Krysten Ritter, Jason Schwartzman, Terence Stamp
KRS Releasing Ltd
In the late 1950s Margaret (Amy Adams) arrives in San Francisco with her young daughter Jane (Delaney Raye) in tow. She is trying to build a new life away from her husband. She finds help from friend DeAnn (Krysten Ritter) and is soon employed as furniture designer as well as to do original portraits at art fairs.
At one of these fairs she meets Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz), who is also a painter but whose primary job is that of a realtor. Soon the two get married and Walter does his utmost to sell Margaret’s work.
At one point he makes a deal with nightclub owner Enrico Banducci (Jon Polito), who gives him wall space to display Margaret’s work. Due to an incident, celebrity snoop Dick Nolan (Danny Huston) captures all the works and this makes the headlines.
Soon Margaret’s paintings of characters with big eyes become a hit, but in the process Walter tells everyone that the paintings are his and Margaret continues this charade. She paints and he promotes, she does the work and he gets all the credit, and the secret grows continuously as they keep it even from her daughter.
Walter sees they can make mountains of cash and starts making posters of her work, something which irritates art critic John Canaday (Terence Stamp). Meanwhile, Margaret does not know what to do and is lost as Walter starts to become ever hungrier for money.
Big Eyes sees the reunification of out-of-the-box director Tim Burton and screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. The team had last worked together on the now classic Ed Wood (1994). Once again they bring to the screen a true life story.
The picture aims and achieves a unique sensibility to the story of Keane and also a drama that does not try to be idiosyncratic. With its simplistic approach, it is a very unique and atmospheric biopic that is a must-see for all those with a hunkering for something different.
Adams, who surprised everybody and ended up winning the Golden Globe for her performance, is very likeable in this picture. Hers is a performance that belies empowerment and commitment. She steps into character and the way she delivers the feelings of anger and helplessness are admirable. She is the film’s core and Burton knows this and invests a lot in her.
It is also to her benefit that Waltz seems to have been given the licence to overact as much as possible, and easily enough pushes the audience straight into Adams’s arms.
Waltz very much plays the carnival showman role as he tries to manipulate us, and it’s in this way that one gets to share the frustrations of the real Keane.
Burton, one of my favourite directors, tries to accomplish many things at once with his film, and he mostly succeeds. The movie has several shades to it, ranging from simple drama to farce, moral tale and comedy.
For example, the courtroom scene, which is simply over the top, is very different from the rest of the movie. Yet it’s in these odd moments that Big Eyes comes even more into its own.