A Great Film From Tim Burton

Rating: 10/10 (21 October 2012)

Big Fish is a fantasy adventure film based on the novel of the same title by Daniel Wallace. The film was directed by Tim Burton and stars Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange, and Marion Cotillard. Other roles are performed by Helena Bonham Carter, Matthew McGrory, and Danny DeVito among others. Finney plays Edward Bloom, a former traveling salesman from the Southern United States with a gift for storytelling, now confined to his deathbed. Bloom's estranged son, a journalist played by Crudup, attempts to mend their relationship as his dying father relates tall tales of his eventful life as a young adult, played by Ewan McGregor.The film's theme of reconciliation between a dying father and his son had special significance for Burton, as his father had died in 2000 and his mother in 2002, a month before he signed on to direct.
William Bloom is a young man who never really knew his dying father, Edward outside of the tall tales he told about growing up, making his way, and meeting his mother. During Edward's last days, William and his wife Josephine hold bedside vigil as the old man recollects elaborate memories of his youth. Still doubting the the legends and folklore, William makes a journey to meet a mysterious woman from whom Edward had bought property.
After a string of mediocre movies, director Tim Burton regains his footing as he shifts from macabre fairy tales to Southern tall tales.This is a compelling look at the relationships between fathers and sons, and the child coming to terms with the parent's mortality.Reliant more on powerful familial emotions than wacky splendor, this film treads as close to our real world - a melancholy dissection of paternal distance and never truly knowing how many lives those we love can truly affect. The result is sweet but thanks to the director's dark and clever sensibility and never saccharine.