At the crossroad of life's components

Rating: 10/10 (31 January 2005)

In a time where the movies industry can build a 2-hour show with plenty of precisely timed plot twists and epic audiovisual effects it needs, at least, patience and courage to enjoy a film like 'Big Fish'. Tim Burton wishes to deliver a deeply human myth and begins his effort by the obvious trick: all tricks to the minimum! Even those used, are, more or less, a mere visualization of the spoken tales: how many times have you listened to your grandpa talking about his giant friend who could move heavy rocks (500kg each), or of his second friend who once caught a 10kg fish using his sardine fishing line?
The story behind 'Big Fish' has many readings. I used the word 'myth' because, in my opinion, Burton knows precisely what a myth IS and in the same time IS NOT. He can feel the simultaneous truth and lie behind the act of storytelling, which might be the essence of our civilization, or more accurately the essence of all mankind.
Pause your DVD a quarter before end credits and you will be disappointed. Fragments of stories, interesting but not connected tales, characters that are merely explained etc etc. Be patient until the ending and you will get wiser. Every loose element finds its position and there is not a 'solution', but more important, a FEELING that floods you and bears the key to the whole movie.
I will disagree with the rest of the comments in that the film is not only about a man that made his life. In the end, all the poles of the story find their opposites: father/son, myth/reality, family/individuality, utopia/feasible, destiny/self-control, discrimination and conduct/self-esteem and recognition. I think that the strong point of the movie is this feeling of reconciliation that floods its end. A situation where all the opposites don't claim their victory and prevalence over their counterparts but stand in a equilibrium that, essentially, is the essence of what is an everlasting myth.