BIG FISH (2003)

Director: Tim Burton

Actor: Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup

The movie tells us about Will Bloom, a son who grew up with fantastic tales about his father’s life, and found it unbelievable after years. After arguing with his father for the last time in the party, he stops talking to him for three years. When his father gets sick, he must return. Not only to take care of him, but also to understand him, through his amazing stories, as a son and as a man who going to be a father.

Although I said the story about a son, the main character of this film is the father. A social person, easygoing, and adventurer with great ambition. That’s a man called Edward Bloom. He like to tell a stories about his past life. However, his stories are not ordinary. Sometimes it doesn’t make sense, like fairy tale. How Young Ed Bloom leave his town with Karl The Giant, see his future death in witch’s glass eye,  enter the town with barefoot inhabitants, face a shapeshifter circus leader, and how time freeze when he met his everlasting love. And of course, that’s not all.

The movie was beautifully shot, with soft color and sometimes bit glowing, in flashback scene, which fit the mood. Set in America at dawn of war in 1950’s and present. I found this movie entertaining, romantic, and touching in an imaginative way. How Ed Bloom describe every aspect in his story, exaggerate yet interesting. No wonder his son claimed that his father always tell a lies. Personally, this is my life time favourite movie. I love how the story flows along with the imagination. I love how the characters interact with each other. And I love fairy tale.

The message:  life is a fairy tale, and you’re the main character. So create it as amazing as you can.

written by Miftah Bayu

 

 

additional info from wikipedia :

Big Fish is a 2003 American fantasy comedy-drama based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Daniel Wallace. The film was directed by Tim Burton and stars Albert Finney, Ewan McGregor, Billy Crudup, and Jessica Lange.

The film's theme of reconciliation between a dying father and his son had special significance for Burton, as his father had died in 2000 and his mother in 2002, a month before he signed on to direct. Big Fish was shot on location in Alabama in a series of fairy tale vignettes evoking the tone of a Southern Gothic fantasy. The film received award nominations in multiple film categories, including four Golden Globe nominations, seven nominations from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, two Saturn Award nominations, and an Oscar and a Grammy Award nomination for Danny Elfman's original score.