Big Fish Review

BURTON, Tim. Big Fish. (2003). United States: Columbia Pictures, 126min.

Big Fish is a fantastic, dramatic and funny film, based on a novel by Daniel Wallace, which tells the story about a man called Edward Bloom. This story is narrated by the protagonist himself (Albert Finney), who is dying because of cancer. His son, Will Bloom (interpreted by Billy Crudup), comes back to home to stay by his side after a long time without talking to him because of his habit of telling incredible stories about his life since he was a child. In a last attempt to know his father’s real life, Will asks him to tell the whole truth, but the answer of Edward is that he has never tell him a lie. Angry, he decides not to hear his stories anymore, but his wife is interested in that amazing stories.

The films plays with chronology: we can see the young Edward Bloom living exciting adventures and the elder and dying Edward confined to bed. Among these adventures, I have especially enjoyed the love story between Edward and his wife Sandra Bloom (interpreted by Alison Lohman as the young Sandra and by Jessica Lange as the elder one). He meets her at the circus, but he doesn’t know his name, so the owner of the circus, Amos Calloway (interpreted by Dany DeVito) makes a deal with him: Edward would work for him and in return he would say a thing about her each month. But times passes and Edward don’t know anything relevant about her, until one day when he discovers that Amos is a werewolf and he spares his life, so in appreciation Amos says to Edward how to find the girl of his dreams. Then he goes to his house and declares his love, but Sandra is engaged. However, Edward goes on with his plan of marry her and he seduces her planting daffodils in her garden, her favourite flowers. One day, while Edward and Sandra are together, Sandra’s boyfriend  find them and hits Edward until Sandra says that she will never marry him, so this is the moment when the most beautiful relationship begins.

But, undoubtedly, the most emotional part of the film is the end. Why? Because all that stories, that Will always has hated for being a string of lies, that were as amazing as unbelievable, now they are real as the life itself. In the last moments of Edward life, his son invent the last adventure which says that Edward is healthy, they both leave hospital and drive to the lake where all the characters in his stories are present, bidding him farewell while he gets into the water and he turns into a fish, a Big Fish.

The final goodbye

So, Big Fish is a film which combines fiction with reality, adventures with drama, giants, werewolves, witches and many things which only Tim Burton can create to obtain a flawless result. Originality is one of its best qualities.

Billy Elliot Review

DALDRY, Stephen. Billy Elliot. (2000). United Kingdom: BBC films, 112min.

Stephen Daldry is an English theatre and film director and producer. This renowned director has produced films like Billy Elliot (2000), The Hours (2002), The Reader (2008) and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011), and with all of these creations he has become a successful award-winning filmmaker.

I have chosen Billy Elliot for the review because I consider that a dramatic film like this is very interesting to analyze. Actually, it is not a dramatic film, but also a moving and inspiring film.                                                                                

                                   

 Billy Elliot (Jamie Bell) is an eleven-year-old boy who lives in England with his working class family: his widowed father (Gary Lewis), brother (Jamie Draven) and grand-mother. The film is set in County Durham, in the period of the British miners' strike of 1984-1985. His father and brother fight against the government for a better quality of life, while Billy goes to school and practices boxing. But Billy is not interested in boxing, so one day he discovers ballet and he decides to go secretly to ballet classes. When Billy’s father learns that he has changed the boxing gloves for ballet shoes, he strongly disagreed and bans him from taking classes because it was considered a “matter of women”.

Many girls, one boy

 During the film, Billy has to face problems such as the absence of his mother, his difficult financial situation because of the strike and the opposition from his family to his dream of being a professional ballet dancer.  However, he forgets all the problems when he is dancing, that’s why he does what he can to go to an audition in the Royal Ballet School with the help of his dance teacher Mrs Wilkinson (Julie Walters), who believes in him from the beginning. Finally, he gets the support from his family and he is admitted into the school. 

Interview at the Royal Ballet School

Music is an essential aspect of the film, which plays a fundamental role to move the audience and to play with his emotions. Swearwords are also very present, especially in Billy’s father and brother who are aggressive with him. Fortunately, these characters gradually change during the film, especially his father, who decides to finish the strike in order to get money to support Billy’s dream. The child-parent relationship changes drastically from the beginning to the end, when the father realize his mistake and shows his affection to Billy. 

                                                                                                      

The father shows his affection

Thanks to the actors’wonderful performance, the story seems very real and becomes emotive especially in the end, when Billy is an adult and goes on stage dancing Swan Lake    while his family and his childhood friend see him after many years.

Final part, one of the most emotional moments

Anyway, the film Billy Elliot shows us that willpower and hard work are the basic ingredients to achieve our goals. It is a film which will not disappoint anyone.