We’re continuing our month of things I love and I thought I’d write about something special today. It’s the movie entry and it’s an older movie too. It may not be the best movie. In fact, there are plenty of people who would say it’s not even a good movie. But every now and then you’ll come across something that just hits you on all levels.

And Big Fish is one of those special movies to me.

There was certainly lots of criticism when it came out. And there are certainly things about it that I recognize as being weak and flawed. I’m certainly not won over by Ewan McGregor’s work in the film but that’s easily compensated by Albert Finney and Billy Crudup’s portrayals which do a fantastic job of selling the grounded portion.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Let’s first cover what Big Fish is. It’s one of those emotional father-son stories that explores the intricacies of a strained relationship. Billy Crudup plays Will Bloom who is a realist who has never really gotten along with his father. He puts up with him due to obligation and through encouragement from his mom but when he learns his father is dying of cancer, he has to come home and reconcile himself with the terminus of the paternal figure in his life. To Will’s credit, his father isn’t particularly honest with him. Edward Bloom is a renown teller of tall tales. No doubt he’s got quite the charm and reputation around town for spinning fantastical webs but this has only alienated Will who feels he’s been pushed out of important aspects of his father’s life.

While staying home, Will and his wife Josephine explore the house and find mementos that remind Will of all the stories his father told him. The film divides itself between Will’s last days with his father and the story of Edward’s life as told with Edward’s flair. Edward has a huge propensity for the dramatic, starting with his telling of his birth involving flying through the hospital halls like a fumbled football. His childhood is riddled with fantastical machines and scary witches. When he’s in high school, he’s the star quarterback of his school’s team. But after graduation, he feels he’s become all he can be at home and so sets off into the larger world.

There, Edward Bloom comes across a giant and convinces him to stop terrorizing the countryside’s sheep and encourages him to join the circus. There, Edward falls in love the moment he spies his eventual wife Cassandra while time literally comes to a standstill.

It’s important to note that Edward’s section of the movie is filmed with incredible whimsy. The colour and lighting is brighter and reflects more of a 50’s aesthetic. There’s tremendous use of special effects and props to bring the fantastic world of Edward Bloom’s imagination to life. It’s a visual feast that reminds me strongly of the charming visuals that made Pushing Daisies such a treat.

Anyway, in order to learn the mysterious woman’s name, Edward works for the ringmaster for three years doing all manner of horrendous jobs. But he does it with a smile and his characteristic cheer because he knows it’s all worth it for the woman he hopes to meet at the end. The ringmaster fulfills his end of the bargain when Edward’s contract closes and Edward rushes off to finally speak with Sandra. Only, this become complicated when the war breaks out and Edward is conscripted.

Big Fish is directed by Tim Burton, distributed by Columbia Pictures, based on the novel by Daniel Wallace and associated images and whatnot belong somewhere among that medley.

The film veers into his silly wartime stories and when Edward returns he becomes a travelling salesman. At this point, frustrated with his father’s insistence on maintaining the veracity of his crazy stories and refusing to tell Will the truth, Will sets off to find some of the people and places from Edward’s tales. It’s then that Will comes across a few of the people that Edward has told him about – they’re still portrayed by the same actors though obviously aged to reflect the passage of time. And here Will learns what he wanted. While Edward’s stories all revolve around kernels of truth, the reality is far more plain than Edward recounts.

In fact, the people that Will meets all say they prefer Edward’s whimsical recollections over the crushingly depressing truth of what happened. But Will disagrees. He’s quite happy to finally learn what actually happened and is satisfied to know that his father was nowhere near the remarkable man he made himself out to be.

Will then gets a call that his father has suffered a stroke. Hurrying back to the hospital, he finds his father awake but clearly on death’s door. With his final moments, Edward asks Will to tell him how his life ends. This is, of course, the film’s denouement wherein Will realizes that his father’s stories aren’t lies but how he views his life. His father is simply incapable of accepting mediocrity or the mundane so has wrapped his own failings and weaknesses into these grand battles of mythological gravitas. Will obliges, accepting that his father will not change and Edward passes with a smile.

The film continues on to Edward’s funeral and Will is surprised to see just how much of Edward’s stories were based on real people who come to celebrate the life of the man who touched them. His father’s lies were the truth of his father’s character. And while the two characters could never truly reconcile their personality differences, Will does understand his father.

I think the film does lend credence to Will’s criticisms, whether that was the authorial intent or not. Edward does try to hide and escape from negative decisions and consequences by re-spinning every action into a sweeping success. His stories are, for the most part, lies meant to forget the hardships they cover. But I’m not convinced that the movie was ever about promoting Edward’s character as anything more than a flawed father which a son has to come to terms with. For every child, there’s an element of idolizing their parent and viewing them as the hero of their lives. In turn, part of becoming an adult is recognizing that their parent is far from ideal. They make mistakes. They hold ugly opinions. Hell, most of the time we can’t even make them better.

Thus there’s a thread of melancholy that weaves through the saccharine flavour of Big Fish. There’s really no redemption for Edward. All that’s accomplished is Will recognizing his father’s foibles. But perhaps understanding is all that can be gained. If nothing else, it will prepare Will for the difficulties in raising his own child. And in knowing his father and his mistakes he can avoid them in turn. Will can learn from his father even if Edward never will.

And at the end, the ultimate message is that despite all the missteps, the characters acted out of love. Thus, indulging an old man’s delusions on his death bed is preferable as it gives agency in how he can be remembered rather than tainting the relationship past the point it can ever be changed.

I kind of like that the relationship is never really salvageable. I like the focus on storytelling and troubled familial relations. There’s just something that clicks for me with Big Fish. It won’t change the world. It won’t even change the characters. But sometimes you don’t need that.

Sometimes you just need to let an old man have his tall tales.