Big Eyes
2014  PG-13  DRAMA  1h 46min
CAST— Amy Adams, Christoph Waltz
MUSIC— Danny Elfman  DIRECTOR— Tim Burton  BASED ON— True events

     Remember those slightly creepy, borderline disturbing paintings of the children with big eyes? But what of the story behind those eyes? The original artist is a harried single parent (Amy Adams) whose inspiration is her loving daughter. But inspiration and naivete do not sell paintings. A whirlwind romance leads to wedded bliss with a charming street artist (Christoph Waltz)… and he has his own ideas as to how to sell his new wife’s work. He uses his panache and know how to finagle his way onto the pop art scene by claiming responsibility for Adams’ now wildly popular art. Years of this deception take their toll on Adams so that guilt and depression (not to mention Waltz’s increasingly erratic behavior) become daily struggles to contend with. She searches for answers to her dilemma, all to no avail… and then she gets a visit from two of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The friends in the congregation help her to come to grips with her problem. Adams decides to reclaim her life’s work by suing Waltz for the rights and everything in between. A seemingly odd choice for a directorial effort from the already eccentric Tim Burton, a subdued, slightly comedic drama, its intimacy akin to the film Ed Wood (1994), another unsung achievement from Burton. An enjoyable foray into kitsch art sure to satisfy.
OUR RATING— ***