Big Eyes (2014)
“He’s diddled everything in a skirt”
“I think that what Keane has done is just terrific. It has to be good. If it were bad, so many people wouldn’t like it” — Andy Warhol
Based on the incredible true story of 1950’s/1960’s painter Margaret Keane and written for the screen by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, all the regular elements of a Tim Burton creation are present: A number of superb central performances especially from Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz, Danny Elfman’s bubbly and retro musical score, Colleen Atwood’s pin point attention to detail with her period costume designs and a story that with a little added Tim Burton twist becomes ever more bizarre.
In the realm of truth being stranger than fiction “Margaret Keane” (Amy Adams) bucks the conventional trend of the conservative 1950’s and runs away from her inattentive husband, taking her young daughter Jane to the hip and modern city of San Francisco. An accomplished portrait painter of young children and especially her young daughter, her distinctive style of painting them with larger than normal eyes goes largely unnoticed until she meets fellow painter “Walter Keane” (Christoph Waltz) who aside from being an amateur painter and real estate agent is a quick witted cad, bounder type, the teller of tall tales and archetypal salesman. Seduced by early success, a loose agreement is reached whereby the outgoing Walter promotes and sells the various child portraits as his own with the slightly neurotic and nervous of the outside art world Margaret taking a silent but heavily productive back seat as she is completely overwhelmed and consumed by the passion and verve of her now new husband, Walter.
The above is not a spoiler as it’s both well documented in the trailers and quickly introduced into the narrative and indeed the crux of this incredible true story, but even more compelling is the fact that we as the audience know the fraud taking place and yet continue to be absorbed in the tale. Still further, Walter is so obviously a fraud and a liar (with every main character in the story from the newspaper reporter to Margaret’s own daughter each give the audience a nod as to knowing the real truth) with even Margaret’s best friend “Dee Ann” (Krysten Ritter) bitterly acknowledging “He’s diddled everything in a skirt”, Margaret continues with the deception and goes along for the ride as we the audience do too.
The central performances of Adams and Waltz naturally propel the film, with Waltz’s growing screen time simply building a more and more repulsive and opportunist individual getting by on his wits and abilities as a showman and salesman. Adams is the film’s true star and ably supported by a typically ebullient and off kilter performance from Jason Schwartzman as aloof Art Gallery Owner “Ruben”, with Jon Polito as opportunist bar owner “Enrico Banducci” and Terrence Stamp in a minor, yet crucial cameo as outspoken art critic “John Canaday”. The most impressive supporting performance falls to one of my favourite all time actors Danny Huston as Newspaper Reporter “Dick Nolan”, who in an assured performance also narrates this fascinating true life tale proving that truth can indeed sometimes be stranger than fiction.
The eyes are the window to the soul, so goes the old maxim. Here Tim Burton (with his own career long fascination for the theme of eyes) uses the eyes of thousands of paintings from an incredible artist to produce a fascinating story.
“Walter Keane wasn’t a subtle man. But subtle doesn’t sell”.
But I was sold on this Tim Burton creation immediately and remain so on repeated viewing. Along with Frankenweenie, Big Eyes is one of his most accomplished films of recent times.
“Big Eyes” can also be found within my 7 volumes of “Essential Film Reviews Collection” on Amazon with each and every volume free to read should you have a Kindle “Unlimited” package. All 9 of my self-published books can also be read for free on Kindle (but go on, treat yourself to a paperback or hardback version!) and should you watch my short Youtube video linked in the middle of this article you’ll also find links to my Patreon and Buy Me A Coffee and other ways of supporting my work as an independent writer.
"The Essential Film Reviews Collection VOL.1" - link to Amazon
Thanks for reading. I hope this message in a bottle in The Matrix finds you well, prospering, and the right way up in an upside down world.