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BIG
FISH
5/10
USA
2003 : Tim BURTON : 125 mins
Big Fish
is the story (or rather the stories) of Edward Bloom (Albert Finney),
a travelling salesman from Alabama. Though the actual circumstances of
his life are seemingly somewhat mundane, Bloom has always embroidered
and elaborated them into semi-fantastical tall tales – to the point where
his son Will (Billy Crudup) has become frustrated and estranged. But when
the older Bloom’s health takes a terminal turn for the worse, the stage
is set for an emotional father-son reconciliation – and yet more of those
very tall tales.
Burton’s film
is adapted from Daniel Wallace’s novel Big Fish : A Novel of
Mythic Proportions – and it seems screenwriter John August found condensing
such ‘proportions’ into two hours a near-impossible task. The material
would probably be better suited to a multi-episode TV programme, each
episode devoted to another of Edward’s wild stories - but in this format,
Big Fish, though mostly watchable, feels more like a disappointingly
conventional illustrated-summary of the novel… rather than the fully-realised
‘re-imagining’ which Burton’s semi-visionary reputation might have led
us to expect.
29th
January, 2004
(seen 26th January : Odeon – The Gate, Newcastle)
click
here for the essay-length version of this review
by Neil
Young
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