Tim Burton reflects the passion of moviemaking

Rating: Null/10 (30 April 1999)

Although "Ed Wood" is a satiric look at the lives and times of the infamous B-movie director and his friends and cast members, it's also Tim Burton's opus to the passion of movie making.
For those of you who know anything about the real Ed Wood, his life was nowhere near as invigorating as this film portrays it (although the film seems to accurately portrays the best years of his career). True, Wood did progress into alcoholism and directing soft porn, but Burton emphasizes the struggling director's passion for his art.
After seeing this film, I picked up a copy of the book containing snippets of interviews of many of Wood's cohorts, and found that almost all of the film is true to life. I remember someone saying in the book that although Wood's films were viewed today more for their cheesiness and bad production values rather than their artistic merit, Wood would have been elated to see that his films were so widely watched. Burton never explicitly says that in his film, but I really wouldn't doubt that fact judging from Johnny Depp's enthusiastic portrayal of Wood.
Keep a close eye on some of the allusion's to Orson Welles's "Citizen Kane" throughout the film. Not only does Wood idolize Welles, but Burton uses several shots and relationships that seem influenced by "Kane" (e.g., the opening shot of Hollywood is similar to Welles's shot of the rafters in the opera house, and Wood's relationships with his girlfriends is similar to those of Kane's).
For the record, this is the film that made yours truly go to film school. After a year of vigorous cinematography courses, I changed my major, abandoning my dreams of being the next Spielberg. Ed Wood, however, still held onto that dream even after a series of flops, and every filmmaker should take notice of that.