ED WOOD
A film review by Matthew Springer
Copyright 1994 Matthew Springer
Tim Burton has finally found a film to which his unique talents as a filmmaker can be perfectly wed: ED WOOD.
If you've seen and been disappointed by Burton's work in the past as I have, then you'll thrill to this biopic of B-movie director Edward D. Wood, Jr., whose credits include GLEN OR GLENDA? and PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE," widely regarded as some of the worst films of all time. Wood is also known for surrounding himself with people as strange as he himself was, such as former horror film star Bela Lugosi, whose relationship with Wood is at the heart of ED WOOD.
I've often thought of the problems in Burton's past films as a battle between screenplay and director; his gifts are such that they often can stifle an otherwise good script. In this case, I think the script was ideally suited to his directing style, and the marriage between director and screenplay a perfect one. Burton has hit a peak as a director with this film; he invokes emotions in this film that I would have thought him incapable of understanding, let alone conveying on celluloid.
Burton is also aided by an extremely talented team of actors, led by Johnny Depp in a virtuoso performance as the title character and Martin Landau as Lugosi. It's clear that Landau deserves an automatic Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for this performance; the battle between him and Robert Downey, Jr., for his insane and sharp portrayal of Wayne Gale in NATURAL BORN KILLERS should be an especially bloody one.
Also not to be overlooked are Sarah Jessica Parker as Dolores Fuller, Wood's first wife who in the end leaves him because she is incapable of understanding his friends and lifestyle; Jeffrey Jones as Criswell the Seer, a false psychic who lands roles as narrator in several Wood films; and Bill Murray in an insanely funny, but small role as Bunny Breckenrige, a homosexual actor who longs to become a woman. His small work alone is enough to warrant seeing this film; it's a credit to the cast that a performance that hilariously over-the-top can be lost amidst such other fine work.
In the end, what makes ED WOOD fabulous is the humanity which it reveals in its characters. All of them are obviously freaks, but just when the audience seems about to realize it and begin to laugh too much at them, Burton gives us a glimpse of these people as human beings that brings us right back to square one. This is especially seen in the Wood/Lugosi relationship; it would have been easy to play Lugosi just for laughs (and lines like "Karloff isn't worthy to smell my s---!" certainly make this clear), but Burton chooses instead to develop this father-son relationship to the fullest, with the roles of father and son being reversed by the time Lugosi has died.
All in all, ED WOOD is a must-see. It showcases Burton's abilities as director to the fullest, while still allowing him to expand those abilities in new directions. It features an incredible ensemble of actors who deliver amazing performances; none seem weak or miscast. And it recreates some of the laughingly bad moments in Wood's actual films down to the letter. Whether you're a fan of Wood's unique talents or have never heard of him, you'll get a kick out of this movie.
Matthew Springer Northwestern University, Evanston, IL. USA mjs087@nwu.edu
.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews