Growing up as a child I was influenced heavily by two directors, whose work I would watch over and over again, The first was Steven Speilberg, and the other was Tim Burton. Tim Burton's bursting onto the scene in the mid-eighties left an indelible impression on my as a young child. His unique, often macabre vision of the work, his ingenuity, and his creativity seeps through with all his films. He deals with clashings of society vs. technology vs. outcast. Rube Goldberg machines, stop-motion, and fun scores define his earlier films. His presence among other directors was a breath of fresh air in the late eighties and early nineties. People saw his films as a reflection of a unique genius. Completely different ways of viewing the world were put up on screen to the delight of the audience. While still at Disney as an animator, Burton worked on a short that shows that spark of creative that would define his illustrious career. It was Vincent. Six years later, he would work with his idol, and the muse to his first professional short, Vincent Price in the imperfectly perfect Edward Scissorhands.
Vincent was created at Disney by Tim Burton and a small crew. A brave undertaking allowed by Disney and given to the somewhat proven Tim Burton. It used stop-motion animation, a form in which appears in the next three Burton films, and is scattered throughout the 80's, It was filmed in 1982, and is a mere 6 minutes long. Narrated by the minister of macabre Vincent Price. It tells the story of Vincent Malloy, who is obsessed with Vincent Price. It reads as a children's book, with its rhyming verses that play out in action for the audience. The fact that it's in black and white plays much better than if it were in color. It's simple and short, and touches on a lot of images that Burton has included in later films. It's as if the poem that comprises the dialogue in the film plays on the childhood of Tim Burton, who was into the dark and ghoulish. He was also into all things Vincent Price. This was a good hommage to the late, great Vincent Price, who said of this film, "it's the most gratifying thing that has happened. It was immortality--better than a star on Hollywood Boulevard." I tend to agree.
* 1/2
Our second film in this viewing pair is the magnificent Edward Scissorhands. There are very few films that have kept me in awe and wonder after every viewing. And still, I manage to tear up every time I watch it. It was also my introduction to Johnny Depp. I know so much about this movie that it will be hard for me to not write every little detail and trivia for this film critique. The title sequence with its accompanying music, is both haunting and fairy tale-ish, as we fade to an old woman starting the fairy tale that she was apart of to her granddaughter. It is Frankenstein story, but with a much more human and sympathetic main character. A man with hands that are scissors...No, scissorhands. It blends the lines of reality and fiction in a way that allows the audience to believe what they are watching. In fact, Tim Burton has said on fairy tales, "I've always loved the idea of fairy tales, but somehow I never managed to completely connect with them. What interest me is taking those classic images and themes and trying to contemporize them a bit. I believe folk takes and fairy tales have some sort of psychological foundation that makes it possible." It is set in a time in the past, perhaps the sixties or seventies, but we aren't sure. A gleaming, atomic family suburb, where the men go to work at the same time, and the women stay and cook, and where the colors are vibrant. The story is simple, but that's to be expected from a contemporized fairy tale. It tells the story of a man (whether he's human or machine we don't know...we know the characters don't want to label him a human), Edward Scissorhands, and his attempt through an adoptive family, to integrate himself into society, despite his social ineptitude and his scissors for hands. When things start to appear to gel, it decoagulates. Edward falls in love with a woman that he feels he can't have, and right when she starts to feel the same, he is forced out by the neighboring townspeople into his mansion on the hill. It truly is the story of outcast vs. society. When a society feels something is perverse or a stranger is encroaching, society rejects it. I often wonder if this is how Burton felt growing up in a colorful suburb of L.A. Edward is Burton.
The dialogue is trite and corny, and has very little depth. The performances, too, are one-dimensional and corny. Almost cringe-worthy. Depp, with his 169 words of dialogue manages to bring a warm performance. It's littered with discomfort, jealousy, estrangement, fear, and even joy. It's nuanced, and it's wonderful. Same goes for the very talented Dianne Wiest and Alan Arkin. Arkin should be singled out because of his very mannered performance as a suburban father. He blends in, and disappears. He manages to do his bits, without being distracting. The same cannot be said for the rest of the cast which borders on amateurish acting, and that includes Winona Ryder's stale and unbelievable performance. There are a lot of bits of humor, and sincerity throughout the film. However, the film plays as a series of vignettes, strung together loosely by the story. If it seems like I'm being overly critical, rest assured, what it lacks in script and acting, it makes up for in heart and humanity. The reasons why the film is so beloved is that it allows you to get in the mind of a person that is trying to fit in. A true misfit, misunderstood and hoping for something better. He's hoping to feel completed both physically with his hands, and emotionally with companionship. The scenes in the snow, and the scenes with Kim and Edward ("Hold me" "I can't"/"I love you") kill me. Just gut-wrenching. The scenes were well choreographed and shot. The art direction and make-up are both stellar in this film. And the thing that really puts a bow on the entire package is the score. Danny Elfman (surprisingly Tim's second choice) delivers an incredible and iconic score. When the movements crescendo, so do our emotions. The entire film is the most original, heartwarming, depressing, and sweetest of Tim Burton's films. It is the one that stands out in his oeuvre. And it is my personal favorite of his films. Burton is creative and original, just like Edward Scissorhands. This film will stand the test of time.
****1/2
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