A man tells his stories so many times that he becomes the stories. They live on after him. And in that way he becomes immortal.
My favourite Tim Burton film, with close competition, but this is a movie I am fascinated by each time I watch it. It follows the troubled relationship of father and son, played by Albert Finney and Billy Crudup respectively. The father tells his whole life in stories and it flashes back through his life, and the young Edward Bloom is played by Ewan Mcgregor. It’s a fantastical epic life story, based on the 1998 novel Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions by Daniel Wallace and was adapted for the screen by John August. You have to embrace the unbelievable mythical aspects of the story to love this film, much as you learn to embrace Edward’s factually inaccurate life story. Other notable characters are portrayed by Jessica Lange, Helen Bonham Carter, Marion Cottillard and Danny DeVito. It’s a fantasy film that transcends the mythical aspects to study the father son relationship and the role of stories in our life. Film is a form of story telling and having this story based on a man made up of stories is an interesting manner of analysing their importance and role. It leaves you amazed by the characters and scenes but is extremely telling on reality a rarity in Burton films.
Candid Film. 