Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Big Eyes - Amy Adams & Christoph Waltz Rock!


The awards season are here and so are my reviews of the latest movies that are receiving some wonderful accolades at these functions. So today I am going to start the series with Tim Burton produced and directed real life story of Margaret Keane - Big Eyes. The movie stars Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz who have been winning one award after the other.

The story tells the turbulent relationship between Walter Keane (Waltz) and Margaret Keane (Adams). Margaret is a good artist who paints children with big eyes. Her work go majorly unnoticed in the early 1950's and soon she falls in love and marries Walter Keane a fellow artist who promises to give her and her daughter Jane (Delaney Raye) security and protection from her ex-husband.

Walter soon starts showcasing her and his creations at every gallery and influential people unless a tiff in a bar makes him a national figure and mistakes Margaret's paintings to be his. Soon people start noticing his work (originally made by his wife) and he becomes a national celebrity and the big eyes kids paintings become a sensation. Using his marketing savvy, he sells the prints cheaply in hardware stores and gas stations across the United States while Margaret is relegated to the background.

Slowly the tensions between the couple heighten when an intoxicated and infuriated Walter tries to set fire Margaret and Jane who escape to Hawaii. Margaret lodges a complaint against Walter claiming the ownership of the paintings ending up in an ugly court fight.

Performances by Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz is outstanding. Both the actors fit the role to the 'T' and bring to life the celebrity couple onscreen. The story, screenplay and dialogues are quite gripping. The period setup looks authentic. Tim Burton has done justice to the subject and comes up triumphant.

On the whole its a wonderful movie and therefore every accolade coming its way is well deserved.

My Verdict: ****
Poor - *, Average - **, Good - ***, Very Good - ****, Excellent - *****