Big Fish

Plot synopsis:
Edward Bloom (Albert Finney), a charismatic teller of tall tales, is a source of frustration to his only child, William (Billy Crudup). At Will's wedding, Edward embarrasses him by telling the guests an impossible-sounding story about the day of Will's birth, involving a giant catfish that ate his wedding ring. Will believes that his father tells lies to get attention and confronts him angrily. They don't speak to each other for three years.Will receives news that Edward is very ill with cancer, and that he might not have long to live. Will and his pregnant wife Josephine (Marion Cotillard) travel to Ashton, Alabama, Will's hometown. They have a reunion with Sandra K. Bloom (Jessica Lange), Edward's wife and Will's mother, who is bringing Edward home from the hospital to take care of him until he dies. Edward is weak and bedridden, but he and Will finally speak again. Will asks to know the truth about his father's life. Edward retells his version of his childhood....In a flashback, a young Edward (Scott Christopher Mcpherson Jr.) and two of his friends meet a witch (Helena Bonham Carter) living in a swamp who has a glass eye which reveals the eventual death of anyone who looks into it. Edward sees how he will die (though the audience does not), and decides that he can now take unreasonable risks because he knows they cannot kill him. Soon afterward, Edward begins to grow at an alarming rate and is hooked up to a machine in bed, as his muscles and bones cannot keep up with his "body's ambition." In an encyclopedia, young Edward reads that a goldfish will remain small if kept in a small bowl, but will grow bigger in a larger habitat. Because he is growing so fast, he concludes he is meant for bigger things.As a teenager, Edward Bloom (Ewan McGregor) is a high school star athlete, entrepreneur, and local hero. When a mysterious "monster" comes to town and eats livestock during the night, he volunteers to talk to it and get it to leave. Edward tracks down the culprit, a gloomy but goodhearted giant named Karl (Matthew McGrory), and convinces him to move to a bigger city. Edward explains that Ashton is too small a town for men of Karl's size and Edward's ambition. The two leave town, and Edward is given the key to Ashton by the mayor.They approach a forest, which Edward wants to take a shortcut through. He promises to meet Karl on the other side, and ventures through the woods (which are full of thorns, spiders, and bees). He stumbles across the town of Spectre, a seemingly perfect place where no one wears shoes. When he enters the town, he is greeted by Beamen, the mayor (singer/songwriter Loudon Wainwright III) and his wife Mildred (Missi Pyle). The mayor has a clipboard that says Edward was meant to be in their town, but he's arrived early. Beamen tells Edward of the poet Norther Winslow, who is also from Ashton. Edward encounters a mermaid in a pond near Spectre, but she swims away before he can see her face.After spending one day and night in the mysterious town, Edward shocks the townspeople by politely excusing himself to get on with his journey. His shoes are flung up onto a high rope along with many other pairs that were taken from each townsperson upon their arrival in Spectre in an effort to keep them there, but Edward continues his trek barefoot. He promises a smitten little girl named Jenny (Hailey Anne Nelson) that he will return someday.Edward and Carl stumble upon a circus, where Carl is immediately hired as an attraction by the owner and ringmaster, Amos Calloway (Danny DeVito) and his clown/attorney Mr. Soggybottom (Deep Roy). Edward glimpses a beautiful girl in the big-top audience, but she is whisked out the door with the crowd before he can speak to her. She turns out to be a family friend of Calloway's. Certain that she is the woman he will marry, Edward begs Calloway for a job, asking for only one piece of information about the girl for every month of work. Edward toils at the circus and learns that the girl loves daffodils and music. Three years later, having only learned trivia about her, Edward discovers that Amos is a werewolf. To reward Edward for his refusal to harm Amos in his monstrous state, Amos tells Edward the girl's name is Sandra Templeton and she studies at Auburn University. Edward bids farewell to Mr. Calloway and sets off to find Sandra.In the present day, the elderly Edward befriends his daughter-in-law, Josephine, but is still at odds with his son, who believes him to be a liar. Will begs his father to be himself, but Edward firmly retorts "I've been nothing but myself since the day I was born, and if you can't see that, it's your failing, not mine!"Upon reaching the university where Sandra Templeton (Alison Lohman) is a student, the teenage Edward finally meets her and explains that he loves her. She is kind to him and has heard of his accomplishments in Ashton, but is already engaged to Edward's hapless rival, Ashton native Don Price (David Denman). Still determined, Edward finds not-so-subtle ways to woo Sandra. One morning, Sandra awakens to find her lawn covered in daffodils provided by Edward. However, Don Price appears and begins to brutally beat Edward, who had promised Sandra he would not fight back. But as Sandra sees Don's cruelty, she breaks the engagement, and eventually does marry Edward. Edward later reveals that Don died from a sudden heart attack while sitting on a toilet only a few years later (as Don saw in the witch's eye).While recovering in the hospital from his fight injuries, Edward receives a draft notice, forcing him to enlist for the Korean War. While sad to leave his new wife, Edward knows from the glass eye that nothing in the war will kill him. Thus, he volunteers for the most dangerous missions in hopes of being sent home sooner. While parachuting into a North Korean army camp during a performance for the troops to steal some important documents, Edward meets struggling Siamese twin singers Ping (Ada Tai) and Jing (Arlene Tai) performing for the enemy troops. He offers to help them break into American show business if they can help him get home. However, the U.S. Army lists him as missing and presumably dead, sending a telegram to a heartbroken Sandra. (In the present day, Sandra finds the telegram and shows it to Will, proving that there is some truth to Edward's stories.) Edward eventually rejoins his wife and takes a job as a traveling salesman to buy them a better house.In line at a bank one day, the younger Edward encounters Norther Winslow (Steve Buscemi), a native of Ashton he met years before in Spectre. Norther has since become a criminal, and Edward is roped into assisting him in robbing the bank. However, the bank has literally no cash for them to steal. Norther resolves to go to Wall Street, where the money is. He later sends Edward $10,000, which he uses to buy a house for Sandra and a young Will.Years later, Edward is nearing middle age. He re-establishes his friendship with Jenny (also played by Helena Bonham Carter), the little girl he met in Spectre, who now lives in a dilapidated old house and gives piano lessons. Seeing the condition of her home, Edward begins to fix it up himself, with the help of Karl the giant. After he restores the house, Jenny reveals that she still has feelings for him after many years. Edward gently tells her that he loves only Sandra, and departs.In the present, still unimpressed by his father's stories, Will demands to know the truth, but Edward explains that he is who he is: a storyteller. While doing his own investigation into his father's stories, Will finds the small town of Spectre, and meets an older Jenny, who explains that Edward rescued the town from bankruptcy by buying it at an auction and rebuilding it with financial help from many friends and acquaintances; and that he used to work at Calloway's Circus, which he also saved from bankruptcy. Will suggests his father had been having an affair with Jenny, to which she replies that while she had indeed fallen in love with him, Edward could never love any woman other than Sandra.Back in Ashton, elderly Edward weakens more and more. However, he repeatedly tells his family that this is not the death he saw in the eye. Will spends some time alone, still believing that he will never have a chance to know his father's true character. Shortly after, Edward has a stroke and is hospitalized. Will encounters the family doctor, who had delivered him and is now treating Edward. Will asks to know the real story of his birth, having heard only his father's catfish story in the past. The doctor explains that it was simply a normal birth, and though Edward exaggerated it, hearing his story was entertaining and comforting. Will decides to reconcile with his dying father.At Edward's bedside, Will finds him only partly conscious, and unable to speak at length. Since Edward can no longer tell stories, he asks Will to tell him the story of how his life ends. Deciding to play along, Will tells his own impromptu tall tale: Edward regains strength, and he and Will escape from the hospital. Jumping into Edward's old car, they speed to a nearby river, where all their family and friends are waiting. Instead of a funeral, they are holding a goodbye party, and Edward happily bids them farewell as he transforms into a catfish and swims away. Shortly afterwords, Edward dies.Will is the only one present for Edward's death, and is deeply happy that they connected at last. At Edward's funeral, Will is astonished to see all of the characters from Edward's stories show up to pay their respects to Edward; Amos, Karl, Norther Winslow, Jenny, Mr. Soggybottom, Ping and Jing all arrive. However, each one of them is slightly less fantastical than they're described in Edward's stories. For example, Amos Calloway is not a werewolf, but only a short and long-haired man; Karl is not a 12-foot giant, but still very tall at around seven feet; Ping and Jing are not conjoined twins, just identical. It finally becomes clear that Edward had combined his love of storytelling with his own reality, which finally makes sense to Will. When his own son is born, Will passes the stories on to him, remarking that his father became his stories -- allowing him to live forever.

Tags: fantasy, boring, stupid, whimsical, thought-provoking, cute, magical realism, flashback, psychedelic, humor, action, romantic, entertaining, storytelling, sentimental

Review:
This movie is an absolute treat for our hearts, ears and especially our eyes with each cartoon/fantasy-like scene painted with Tim Burton's reliable brilliance and magical touch.
"Big Fish" combines Burton's unusual humor with a heart-wrenching story of a father-son deathbed reconciliation.
Albert Finney and Ewan McGregor share the role of Ed Bloom, one of the big fish from the movie's title while an SUV-sized catfish plays the other.
Burton deals with mythic themes in "Big Fish."  Besides the surface story of the generational tension between father and son he explores the metaphor of the big-fish-in-a-small-pond by examining the impact Ed Bloom has had on the lives he's touched in his workaday contacts with colleagues, customers (he's a traveling salesman), and people in the small towns across the South.
Though this wasn't as dark as Sleepy Hollow or as bizarre as Edward Scissorhands and Beetlejuice, Big Fish definitely had the Tim Burton touch in its scenery.
I am a great fan of Tim Burton, and I really believe that "Big Fish", together with "Ed Wood", are his best works.
Still, there's no way around it in a proper review: We meet a disillusioned young man and his father, a charming old guy who knows exactly how to tell stories to fascinate first-time listeners and children.
I didn't exactly feel like watching my favorite comedian run around with a horde of little kids cracking bad poopy jokes behind them, and I didn't want to see Eddie Murphy do this either (it was bad enough in last year's "Daddy Day Care"), so I chose to see the more adult-oriented of these three films, and I'm glad I did, because Tim Burton's "Big Fish" is a marvelous film--full of wit and imagination and eerie vibes that sometimes don't fit into Burton's films the way he wants them to--but actually have a purpose here."Pee Wee's Big Adventure" is simply one of the best films of all time, and you can quote me on that.
That was Burton's breakthrough--then came "Batman," which was very good but slightly lacking in substance, and then came "Edward Scissorhands"--one of my sister's favorite films, a beautiful love story and an eerie fable...but just missing a very small ingredient that kept it from becoming a great movie (perhaps the same with his film "Ed Wood"--a very good film, but not exactly one of my all-time favorites).I have my doubts as to whether anyone other than Tim Burton could have pulled off "Big Fish." Here's a movie I expected I would dislike and come away feeling a little bit empty--but that's only partially true.
The movie doesn't quite exceed on the level it tries to, but as a film, it's one of the best motion pictures of the year.It stars Albert Finney as Edward Bloom, an old man who loves to exaggerate tales of his past and pass these on to his friends and family.
One night his son, William (Billy Crudup), tires of hearing the story about how he caught the town's largest fish in a lake using a gold ring--so he ignores his father for three whole years, until his mother (Jessica Lange) informs Will that his father is dying of cancer, and that he wishes to speak with his son one last time.Drawn back to his old Alabama hometown with his new wife, Will finally learns the truth about these so-called "exaggerated" stories--and we, as the audience, get to see them in flashback mode.
On his journey he comes across an assortment of odd fellows, including a "Gentle Giant," a failed poet living in a heavenly town named Spectre, and a strange circus ringleader who also happens to be a werewolf.All of these stories that Edward Senior tells his family relate to their current positions, and to call the film simply beautiful would be what John Candy once said is "the understatement of the year." My particular favorite character was the poet living in Spectre, played by Steve Buscemi (a wonderful supporting actor), who I had no idea played any role in this film prior to viewing the opening credits and seeing "with Steve Buscemi" appear on screen.Buscemi's poet has been working on a particular poem for twelve years whilst living in Spectre.
But, for what it's worth, DeVito's second re-teaming with Burton is magnificent--he's a supporting character, but the film certainly benefits from his performance.Like all of Burton's films, "Big Fish" teeters on the edge of greatness, but it never quite crosses the line.
In some moments, the film is spectacular dialog between McGregor and Albert Finney interpretation.In fact, "Big Fish" is a tale.
Now there's Big Fish, a film loaded with visual spectacle, and it shows Burton working an adaptation to his own advantage for the first time in years.
Here he tells a story about storytelling, using both make-up, sets, and CGI at his disposal, and it's about one man's own imagination and how he carried it on to others, whether they were delighted by the tall tales or not.This man is Edward Bloom, played by both Albert Finney and Ewan McGregor, and they both deliver wonderful work here as the dying Bloom still telling stories of adventures and the young Bloom playing them out, respectively.
As do Billy Crudup as Edward's son William, who's grown weary of his father telling the story of his birth (involving a catch of a big fish), among many others, and all he wants now at his deathbed is the truth.
Stories like the visit to the town of Spectre, and that town's most known poet Norther Winslow (Steve Buscemi in one of the film's highlighted supporting roles); the years spent working for nothing in the circus for Amos (Danny DeVito, another note of interest) just to know more about Sandy, whom he sees frozen in time; his stint in the war, etc.
The best thing that can be said about Big Fish, even to those who might not like it, is that the journeys and stories taken in the film, by real and 'elaborated' real characters, generate a film as a delight for all ages.
However the telling - that's where it is at.The stories told are wonderfully whimsical and amusing, like the film states the stories have elements of truth but also be coloured by Bloom to add life to them.
My favorite movies directed by Tim Burton are Ed Wood and Sleepy Hollow.Ed Wood is a tribute to B movies from the 50's and Sleepy Hollow is a tribute to the horror films of Hammer.In Big fish,Burton uses his original style,at the same time dark and innocent.But,the result is a good but not great movie that,by my point of view,it could have been a little better.The best thing I can say about this movie is that it has a lot of imagination.But now,I'll mention the weak things I found on this movie:the characters' emotions are not very deep.For the other sight,Burton seems more interested on showing all the imagination the film has that in telling a good story.The film feels a little cold and without the sense of humor that films like Beetlejuice or Pee-Wee's adventure had.Big fish is not a bad movie;I have to say it kept me fun and interested but I feel it could have been a little better..
Rather it made some attempts at reconciling Edward Bloom's (Albert Finney as the dying old Bloom and Ewan McGregor as young Bloom) tall yarns he would tell repeatedly to anyone who would listen and especially to his son Will Bloom (Billy Crudup).
Instead of that "train wreck you can't look away from" feeling, Burton always leaves you with a voyeuristic sense that makes you want to watch his films more than once, to see the things you missed the first time.
Instead of hammering away at the viewer with the weirdness of the characters, Burton lets the personalities speak for themselves; and perhaps this works because his characters have always been inherently likeable.Not so this time with his latest effort, Big Fish.To tell this nested set of stories, Burton assembled a cast that is top notch: Ewan McGregor as the young Edward Bloom, Albert Finney as the elderly Edward Bloom, Jessica Lange as Bloom's wife Sandra, Billy Crudup as their son William Bloom; with a host of minor roles filled by such notable performers as Robert Guillaume, Danny DeVito, Helena Bonham Carter, and Steve Buscemi.
(He soaks in a tub, fully clothed!) Even some of the camera angles are downright awkward--as if an amateur camera operator had been given free rein to be as "arty" as he wanted to be.And probably the weirdest one of all: Tim Burton has made another movie about someone named Edward.None of these little items, or the other dozens of such things, are explained or illuminated in the film, especially not at the end, when one might expect them to become clear, or at least say why they cannot be clear.
Tim Burton has made a number of films I really like (Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, Pee Wee's Big Adventure), but this is not one of them.
This has lead to years of alienation from his son Will (Billy Crudup) who feels he never heard the real stories and who doesn't appreciate his father's fantastic tales.
Feeling like he never knew his father, he hopes to separate the lies and fantasy in his stories from the truth, hoping to find the true person underneath the tall-tales.In the movie, Edward Bloom recounts stories from his life.
There are many themes in this movie as they vary with the story being told, but the main theme is the relationship between father and son as his son rediscovers and comes to terms with who his father is.It's a heart warming, adventurous, funny movie where fantasy and reality go hand in hand and the possible is as likely as the impossible.To me, this is Tim Burton at his best.
It's the kind of movie many folks wish they made more of today.The fun parts of the film are not the beginning or ending but the middle in which the dad's stories are brought to life.
Honestly, I have never met a Tim Burton film I haven't liked for one reason or another, but Big Fish is only the second to make me cry (Edward Scissorhands being the first).
Tim Burton was definitely the man for the job on this film, and if you like his other classics like Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, and Batman, you'll probably enjoy this one, too.
Big Fish will be in my movie library along with Edward Scissorhands and be a favorite in my heart, my 15 year old Daughters, my Wifes, and everyone I talk to about it.
This movie was I think one of the best I have ever seen from a Tim Burton film.
Of course the father lies about his life and comes up with a lot of stupid tales about himself as young (Ewan McGregor).What I don't get about this movie is how people can like a person as reprehensible as Ed Bloom.
And this exactly what Tim Burton is all about.A great film, wonderfully told story, excellent acting and a definite 10/10 for me..
Now, the story of Big Fish is told on two fronts: the first front being Edward Bloom as an old man in the present day dying from cancer, telling his son's wife all of these stories of his own youth, however, the son believes that the stories that his father tells are nothing but lies, and this whole part of the movie is the son, William, trying to know more about his father by getting his father to tell him the truth about his life before his eventual death, The second front is told in the late 1950s and mid 1960s with the young Edward Bloom living these stories that the older version of Edward Bloom is telling, even though the stories told are pretty exaggerated.
It's the most heartbreaking, poetic and romantic movie he's made since Edward Scissorhands, and it's a shame it didn't get the recognition it deserved.At the movie's center is the relationship between the dying Edward Bloom (Albert Finney, excellent) and his son Will (Billy Crudup) who wants to find out the truth about his dad: for several years, Edward has told some amazing stories concerning his life, and Will is the only one who has stopped believing them.
Now, he wants to know what really happened.That's when the film properly kicks off, as we're shown young Edward's (Ewan Mcgregor, absolutely comfortable in the role) life exactly as he has described it, alternating facts and, for most of the story, fiction.
I was charmed by the way it was written, the style reminded me of American folklore (actually that was a Russian translation, and a book of American folklore i had was also on Russian , so, maybe ,it is only a wrong impression) , and the story was so unusual , and so unusually told , and i loved it.On the back cover of the book it was said that Tim Burton have filmed it not long ago, so the only thing to do was buy the film immediately.
Slowly throughout the movie, the son learns who his father was, and who he still is, and that is the wonder of Big Fish.
So, to tell us about his father as a young man (Ewan McGregor), Crudup only has these stories to tell us.Obviously an intensely personal film for Burton, who is really here telling us a tale about his own father.* I could imagine it all before I saw it.
BIG FISH is Tim Burton's attempt to do a whimsical flight-of-fancy movie based around an old guy on his death bed telling tall tales to his son.
my plans failed, i was watching the movie and i didn't believe my eyes, it was so capturing, so magical, so wonderful, so ...everything, the story is absolutely amazing, it's so fanciful and at the same time so real, great characters, great music, great camera, great acting, the film is also so touching and emotional because it deals with us, humans, our life, the adventures we have, the stories we tell, and what is left behind, when we're gone ...
It has not only instantly become my favorite Burton movie ever, but has move onto my list of favorite movies of all time.The way this movie was filmed, the sets, the costumes, the cinematography, and all of it, combined to create a magical feeling to all the stories it tells.
Big Fish is director Tim Burton's most mature film to date, taking his regular fantasy elements and vivid imagination, and planting them in an adult environment, where they can be both visually entertaining and emotional shattering.
And yes, the film is that good.The story revolves around Ed Bloom (Albert Finney), a dying father who receives a surprise visit from his estranges son, Will (Billy Crudrup) while on his death bed.
By far the most underrated movie of 2003, "Big Fish" is a journey of the imagination to its greatest extreme; the vision of life in the eyes of a man who couldn't seem more ordinary.This man is Edward Bloom, and I would like to see life the way he does: ill and about to die, and telling his son Will (Billy Crudup) the true story of his existence, in an attempt to reconcile their differences.
Danny Elfman's score also steals the show but it's really one more character, as in any Burton film (if you haven't seen "Edward Scissorhands", give yourself a chance: it's a great movie, but the music...).In conclusion, "Big Fish" is no more than the piece where all the things Burton has worked on come together.
If Edward Bloom (the main character of the movie), is the man who tells the story...
The Tim Burton's best movie yet, where the real people with a "big-fish' in a same can..
Offbeat.Gripping.An epic adventure.Big Fish is one of Tim Burton's more colorful films.
They help carry the story, as do the unusual humour and the magical score by Danny Elfman.Toward the end of Big Fish, I realised how smitten I had become with all the quirky characters, the central father-and-son relationship and the overdose of style that Burton presents--to the extent that I was sad when the film ended even though the conclusion was very satisfying.
The ending was absolutely magical and reminded me of my late grand father : how he touched all those people during his life and no one would ever forget him and would still talk about his adventures even after he's gone!So don't hesitate buy it enjoy it then watch it again and show it to all of your friends again and again because its not everyday that you'll see such movie like this....
This movie tells the story of the beginnings of a tall-tale.Before watching it, I must warn viewers, this film is not for everyone.
This movie is strange and only those who can think like Tim Burton will understand it.
I would say that these well known faces had no more than 15 minutes of screen time throughout the film but they were instrumental to the total performance: Jessica Lange, Helena Bonham Carter (Tim's main love in real life), Robert Guillaume, and Danny DeVito.
Of course, those unbelievably mysterious fancy stories are the coolest part of the whole movie, Tim Burton did a great job bringing those things to life, and everyone in the cast also gave us an extraordinary incredible and unforgettable performance.
Big Fish is considered by many the masterpiece of Tim Burton , since I think just a good film, has an interesting and competent script, good dialogues , a good soundtrack , excellent photography , has great moments , the cast is great , Ewan McGregor , Albert Finney , Jessica Lange , Alison Lohman , Helena Bonham Carter , Robert Guillaume , Billy Crudup , Danny DeVito and etc.