BIG EYES: THE EYES HAVE IT

It feels like forever since Tim Burton brought a new movie to the screen. While it’s only been 2 years since both FRANKENWEENIE and DARK SHADOWS came out, both didn’t fare well at the box office. So he’s been due to release a film that satisfied both fans and the box office. While his latest released pleased fans it remained a box office blip rather than a hit. That’s a shame because this new movie was really quite enjoyable.

BIG EYES is in reference to those famous pictures of children with huge eyes that were all the rage in the late fifties/early sixties. It seemed like you’d find them everywhere. After watching this film you’ll know why. You’ll also know more about the artist behind those paintings and the life she led.

The film opens as Margaret Ulbrich (Amy Adams) leaves her husband with her daughter in tow, heading for California and better opportunities. While we’re never presented the reason why we have to assume things were pretty bad at home since the fifties were a time when a woman leaving her husband was looked down upon. Upon arriving in California Margaret takes on a job and on the weekends sets up to paint, her reel passion, along the sidewalks of a park in San Francisco. There she meets a fellow painter by the name of Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz). After charming his way into her heart, the two marry.

With dreams of making it big in the art world, Walter peddles his painting where he can but doesn’t get much attention in the local galleries. He eventually rents wall space from a nightclub owner which ends up being the halls leading to the bathrooms. A fight that gets caught on film brings attention to him and the club owner. As they say there is no such thing as bad publicity. The odd thing is that while both paintings by Walter and Margaret are on the walls it is her pictures that are selling.

With the success of her paintings selling, the cash flow builds. Walter convinces Margaret that the world needs to believe that he is the one painting her pictures though, it being a man’s world at the time and that women wouldn’t be taken seriously. Thus the lies begin and the world changes for the couple. Walter eventually opens his own gallery offering the public the paintings they crave while Margaret slaves away, hidden in their high priced home in a small room meant for nothing but her work. Even her daughter is not made aware of just who is actually painting the pictures.

As the success of the paintings increases so does Margaret’s unhappiness. While Walter gathers more and more attention, going in talk shows and releasing a book of the painting, Margaret remains in the dark at home getting no recognition at all. While this may seem like an extensive amount of details to offer about this movie in truth most of the story is well known, including the couple’s subsequent divorce and the way the judge determined who would actually be able to take credit for the paintings. While the bare bones are laid out here, it’s the details that make this movie work.

Burton once again captures the prim and proper feel of nostalgic suburbia that was seen so well in films like EDWARD SCISSORHANDS. This is a world where women were seen but not heard, where deals were made by slick, fast talking men and where coming home to find a roast in the over was expected nightly. It is indeed a world where critics were more likely to tear apart a woman’s work over that of a man. But while Walter might be right about that, the success of the paintings had more to do with the actual artwork than it did with knowing who painted them. The fact that he was the highest of con men when it came to huckstering the paintings didn’t add to their value and in fact much of what he did with the rights to them cheapened them in the eyes of many. And yet they were and still are found everywhere.

Bringing these two characters to life are the performances of both Adams and Waltz. Adams has played the feminine lead before but not always displaying the confusion, reluctance to stand up for herself and the sadness behind the woman who brought forth the big eyed children. Waltz has played the bad guy before but not as a charmer who claims to want the best for his family while promoting himself at the cost of selling out someone who he should hold dear. Combined they make for a perfect casting in the two lead roles.

While most would connect Burton with a weird world as seen in his films like the afore mentioned EDWARD SCISSORHANDS or BEETLEJUICE, here he makes a more mainstream movie that most would be hard pressed to connect his name with. He proves that he can do it with ease. It’s nice to see him accomplish something different, something more along the lines of a mainstream movie. It made me wonder what he could do with an action franchise. The fact that he can work in both worlds he’s displayed shows he is an incredible talent and that studios need to open their purse strings once again to fund his next film. While this one felt small in budget it lacked nothing and was huge in story. For myself that made this a movie I’m likely to watch more than once. It was that enjoyable.

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