Big Eyes

Big Eyes

*** / ****

 

Review by Sean Trolinder

 

Directed by Tim Burton

Cast: Amy Adams, Christoph Waltz, Krysten Ritter, Terence Stamp, Jason Schwartzman, Delaney Raye, Madeleine Arthur, Danny Huston, Joe Polito

 

 

 

            I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I have a love/hate relationship for Tim Burton. On one hand, his tendency to make quirky movies for the sake of doing so makes me feel like he rarely stretches as an artist (this is the same problem I have with Wes Anderson). But every so often, he’ll go against the grain and make colorful films like Big Fish, or biographical pictures like Ed Wood, and this is when I begin to appreciate Burton’s craft. Much like Margaret Keane in Big Eyes, Burton tries to stick at what he’s most known for, which makes the film a bit of a self-meditation. Margaret Keane (played by Amy Adams) is an artist in the late fifties and early sixties who paints portraits of children with wide, bulging eyes, and most of her work is a repetition of the process. For almost three decades now, Burton’s style as a filmmaker is known for slanted angles and dark, murky colors. However, like Keane (who later attempts to change her style), Burton changed his style a bit for Big Eyes, adding a ton of color and providing a lot more depth to his characters’ insecurities and tendencies. Though I wouldn’t call Big Eyes a masterpiece, it is Burton’s best, most honest work since Big Fish.

            Big Eyes could honestly be called Burton’s most feminist work and the film begins with one of Margaret’s biggest decisions—to leave her first husband whose last name is Ulrich. Along with her daughter Jane, Margaret moves to San Francisco, gets a job painting furniture at a factory, and paints in the park on weekends. Now as a single mother living in a strange, bigger city, Margaret finds it difficult for consumers to take her “Big Eyes” portraits seriously, since she is a female artist in the late fifties. During one scene at the park where Margaret paints Jane, a man offers Margaret a dollar to sketch his son, obviously taking advantage of her talents. While she completes the portrait, a man surrounded by a bunch of paintings of the streets of Paris notices what’s going on and tells Margaret that she shouldn’t sell herself short, that her gift is rare and the “Big Eye” sketches are truly remarkable. The man introduces himself as Walter Keane (played by Christoph Waltz). Soon, Margaret starts dating Walter, seduced by his tales of traveling Europe and painting in Paris. Later, Margaret gets a letter from her ex-husband demanding Jane back, citing that Margaret does not have the means as a single mother to support a child. Faced with the prospect of losing her daughter, Margaret agrees to marry Walter, who we find out is a successful real estate agent outside his earlier declaration of being a successful artist.

            Margaret and Walter’s marriage is the first major domino screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (writers of Ed Wood, The People vs. Larry Flynn, and Man on the Moon) allow to fall that sets up the conflict between the two. Part of Margaret knows her impulse to marry Walter means she depends on him for support, so once Walter begins trying to sell his and Margaret’s art at a restaurant owned by Enrico Banducci (played by Joe Polito), the storyline becomes complicated. Patrons of Banducci’s establishment are in awe of the “Big Eyes” portraits and they begin offering money for them. Jealous that his Paris sketches get no attention, Walter begins telling people that he’s the genius behind the “Big Eyes” paintings. At first, Margaret is appalled that Walter would take credit for her masterpieces, but after a famous celebrity pays $5,000 for one of Margaret’s lesser works, she feels playing along is best from a financial standpoint, since once again, people seem to appreciate the art more, assuming it was done by a male. One of Margaret’s friends, DeeAnn (played by Krysten Ritter), is not entirely convinced that Walter paints the “Big Eyes” portraits, since some of them have cats and she never thought Walter would be interesting in such animals, much less the children in them.

            As Walter goes about making up stories behind the inspiration behind “Big Eyes” and begins showing off Margaret’s work in gallerias, associates start asking if Margaret is a painter herself. She doesn’t say anything, worried about exposing Walter, but after a while, the struggle becomes too much, so she tries to change her style into something much more simplistic with people elongated, yet with narrower eyes. In order to take credit for her new style, she signs the portraits “MDH Keane,” whereas the “Big Eyes” paintings that Walter has been taking credit for are signed simply “Keane.”

            After a few years pass, Margaret becomes restless of Walter’s act, even discovering a secret behind his sketches from Paris (which is quite an interesting subplot). However, Walter feels the pressure to unveil his masterpiece to the world, which is supposed to be hung in a children’s education center. Margaret obliges in painting a portrait of many children from all walks of life, yet they all have big eyes. An art critic named Joe Canaday (played by Terrence Stamp) slams the work as emotionless and going through the ropes, which sends Walter into a fit. He later blames Margaret for his demise, which prompt her to leave with Jane to Hawaii. It is only in Hawaii that Margaret works up the courage to divorce Walter and claim authority of her work.

            In addition to Alexander and Karaszewski’s well-crafted screenplay (which spans quite a bit of time, yet is balanced), Adams gives a terrific performance as Margaret. Throughout the film, her icy blue eyes evoke longing for success, to be given credit for her work, yet she seems to struggle with the insecurities of being a female painter in the early sixties. Likewise, Christoph Waltz plays Walter Keane well in the beginning, allowing his natural charisma to give the audience every opportunity to root for his romance with Margaret at first, and then letting the audience despise him for his jealousy and phoniness. As for Burton, he still uses several slanted angle shots throughout Big Eyes, and I find it interesting that San Francisco is a proper setting for such a style, since it’s a city built on hills and inclines. He allows the settings to establish his subtext, when you see crooked portraits in the background, helping us arrive to the conclusion that not everything is what it seems.

            With that said, the major issue with Big Eyes is the courtroom scene at the end, when Margaret and Walter have a defamation trial about who is the true artist behind the “Big Eye” portraits. The scene is way over the top, cartoonish, and though we get hints that Walter’s “acting” and eccentric behavior in court has to do with watching Perry Mason, it just seems to not fit naturally within the serious mood set throughout. Also, there are many scenes where Burton tries to take shots at organized religion. Though there is a place for it in cinema, it feels a bit heavy-handed in the film without a true payoff for weaving it in every now and then.

            Though one of Tim Burton’s better films, the end does leave much more to be desired, but kudos for him weaving his style into an appropriate San Francisco setting and allowing color to dominate over black and gray for a change.