BIG FISH Without The Fantasy

WHEN DID YOU LAST SEE YOUR FATHER? (Dir. Anand Tucker, 2007) When I first saw the trailer for this film with the premise of Jim Broadbent as Colin Firth’s father I thought ‘that's genius casting!’ The best casting since Ewan McGregor played a younger version of Albert Finney in BIG FISH in my humble opinion. 


I didn’t realize though that the film itself shares a lot in common with that father/son fable - as it deals with a troubled son trying to sort out the truth about the past regarding his father’s exploits. Just subtract the carnivals, the exotic conjoined twins, the giant cat-fish, the witch, etc. and retain the possibility of infidelity and this is pretty much what you'd get. 


But that may be a bit unfair and too simple a conclusion for this sincere melodrama that moves to its own heartbeat even as it gets a bit maudlin and treacly in its second half.

Based on the book by Blake Morrison and set in Yorkshire 1989, WHEN DID YOU LAST SEE... has Firth fretting, albeit in a very sub-dued manner, about his relationship with his father (a graceful and charming Broadbent) as he is on his deathbed. Many flashbacks involving 2 young actors playing the young Firth (Bradley Johnson and Matthew Beard) show us that he has reason to believe that Broadbent had affairs and may have even fathered a daughter. 


Nearly every other character including his dotting but stern mother (Juliet Stevenson) tells him in so many words to drop it but Firth can't seem to stop dragging up past pain. 


With too many shots of moody reflections of the characters in mirrors and an overly sentimental score, this film is a good, not great, study of a family quietly scrambling for some sort of perspective closure. 


Now, I’ve never decided on whether closure is a real tangible thing or if it’s just a psychological buzzword popularized on Oprah but I do know there’s ‘movie’ closure and I appreciate this films realistic untidy approach to it. 


Despite that there’s really little suspense as to whether Firth will come to accept his father for who he was when he’s gone, the performances, especially by the wry Broadbent, are spot-on and the overall tone has the right pitch as well. 


Still I could have done without the 2 masturbation scenes; not sure what character insight we’re supposed to gain about Firth from them except maybe that he has never fully grown up. WHEN DID YOU LAST SEE YOUR FATHER? is likable and un-imposing but it drags a bit. 


Not badly enough that I was hoping for Broadbent to turn into a big mythical cat-fish mind you, so consider this a good review. 


More later...

DVD Review: Tim Burton's BIG FISH

Now out on the popular DVD format: 

BIG FISH (Dir. Tim Burton, 2003)

While this movie is being touted in its trailers as “from the imagination of Tim Burton” it should be noted that it was adapted by screenwriter John August from the book by Chapel Hill native Daniel Wallace, and it was originally developed as a project by Steven Spielberg. 

Edward Bloom (Albert Finney) amuses everyone with his elaborate tall tales except for his son Will (Billy Crudup).

As his father is most certainly on his death bed, Crudup is struggling for some truth for once and attempts to sort out the reality from the fantasy.

Apart from the storybook fantasy sequences, one of the best things the movie has going for it is the casting of Ewan McGregor as the young Edward. Particularly effective because McGregor looks almost exactly like Finney did when he was younger. Take a look at TOM JONES (1963) if you don’t believe me.

What keeps this movie from truly being a classic is some of the hazy plot threads and the less than fully fleshed out characters. Poet Norther Winslow (Steve Buscemi) seems like he was created just for a reason for Buscemi to lend his punchy prescence, Helen Bonham Carter plays two underdeveloped roles which may be the same character - I'm not sure, and the choice of a unaffecting Pearl Jam song to end the proceedings with doesn't help either.

That said this is still a fine film and only persnickety film geeks like me would harp on such matters. The real emotion displayed here (especially in the last half hour) wins over even the most cynical critic, and I have a distinct feeling that time will be good to this elaborate tall tale. Danny Devito, Jessica Lange, and Robert Gulliaume round out the cast. 

Special Features: A disappointing commentary in which Burton is interviewed by some British guy who wrote a book on Burton (Burton On Burton) on top of the movie instead of a preferred straight Burton talking directly about the action on screen. Nevertheless it provides some insights, but the featurettes are pretty inessential and the trivia game is...well I didn't even check it out, I mean who puts a DVD in the player to play some damn trivia game?!!? I sure as Hell don't.

More later...