Film review by Kevin Patterson
Ed Wood (R, 1994) Directed by Tim Burton. Written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. Starring Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette.
Ed Wood has been billed as a comedy, and its material certainly seems like the perfect material for laughs. After all, this is the story of Ed Wood, the universally acclaimed Worst Director of All Time and the man responsible for the cinematic disasters Glen or Glenda? and Plan 9 From Outer Space , among others. But when I heard that the film was directed by Tim Burton, who has a reputation for championing the lonely outsider in films such as Edward Scissorhands and Batman, I thought that it really might be something else. Maybe this movie would actually show us Ed Wood as a human being rather than a caricature, the Ed Wood that was determined to make movies and to make them his way, the Ed Wood that was blissfully unaware of his own lack of talent.
And indeed it did. That's not to say that the film isn't funny, which it certainly is. But it's more than that: Wood, played here by Johnny Depp, ultimately emerges as a sympathetic character. This is not because the film waters down Wood's lack of talent; the script devotes considerable attention to the making of Glen or Glenda?, Bride of the Monster, and of course Plan 9 and does not attempt to portray them as anything other than scatterbrained nonsense. Nor does it apologize for him by suggesting that it wasn't really his fault that his movies were bad; in fact, his sponsors try to interfere and bring some sense to Plan 9, but he refuses to listen to their suggestions.
Yet Wood comes across as a likeable human being. He is certainly dedicated and enthusiastic about his profession, however incompetent he may be. And if the film is historically accurate, he was one of the few true friends that actor Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau) had in the last years of his lonely, drug-addicted existence. Wood, Lugosi, and the others involved in Wood's films, most of them occupying the fringes of society (Wood himself was a known transvestite), may have been dismal failures in terms of the quality of the movies they made, but Burton portrays their cinematic misadventures with an odd romantic touch that makes it hard not to admire their perseverance. Wood's relationship with his girlfriend and later wife Kathy Johnson (Patricia Arquette) is treated much the same way; their idea of a romantic evening seems to be sitting on the couch reading a book about space invaders from Mars, but their goofy innocence is admired much more than it is mocked. Near the end of the film, when Wood firmly tells his sponsors that their suggestions for Plan 9 From Outer Space would not be needed, I actually found myself cheering for him as he and his crew managed to realize the project in all its stupidity.
What Burton and screenwriters Alexander and Karaszewski seem to be saying is that yes, of course Ed Wood was a nut, but if all this silliness made some sense to him and those around him at the time, then maybe everyone else should at the very least leave him alone. This is certainly an understandable sentiment from Burton; when a movie mogul chews Wood out for playing Glen or Glenda? as an (albeit mishandled) attempt at social commentary rather than the sensationalist exploitation flick that he wanted, I cannot help but think of those who slammed Burton for making Batman Returns into a dark, psychologically unsettling film rather than the campy superhero movie that was expected. Ed Wood does not have the visual flash of Burton's other work (it is shot in black and white), but at the same time it is probably his best and most personal film. They are light-years apart in terms of talent, of course, but in a way I can see Tim Burton and Ed Wood as kindred spirits: two filmmakers determined to do things their own way, regardless of the pressure from above.
Burton and his writers are making a pretty extreme statement in Ed Wood -that nothing, not even lack of talent, should stand in the way of dedication and honesty when it comes to art. Whether you agree or not, this film is probably just about the best argument there is for such a position. Along with the Coens' Barton Fink, Ed Wood is one of the most off-beat, and one of the best, films to tackle the entertainment industry in recent years.
Grade: A+
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