Film Review
Normally, biopics tend to be reserved for individuals who have some
measure of greatness about them, men and women who have made their mark
either as important historical figures or as major contributors to
man's scientific and cultural achievements. Edward D. Wood, Jr.
was no such person. He was a third rate exploitation filmmaker
whose only claim to fame is that he was once described as the worst
film director of all time. A purveyor of low budget kitsch
fantasy B-movies, which combined the worst of the horror and
science-fiction genres, Wood's films were reviled whilst the director
was alive, but have acquired a sizeable cult following after his death
in 1978.
Bride of the Monster,
Night of the Ghouls,
Plan 9 from Outer Space and
Necromania: A Tale of Weird Love
are just four of the risible cinematic oddities that bear Ed Wood's
distinctive signature, films that are so ineptly written and directed
that in any sane world they would have long been forgotten. Yet
the mere fact that Ed Wood directed some of the last films of
Bela Lugosi (the horror icon made famous by Universal's
Dracula)
has conferred on him a kind of accidental immortality, and Tim Burton's
affectionate biopic about his early years as a filmmaker will doubtless
revive an interest in his work. You don't have to be great to
become a legend.
By the time he came to make this film, Tim Burton had already
successfully fashioned himself as a modern stylist with such films as
Batman (1989)
and
Edward Scissorhands
(1990), films with both mainstream and art house appeal. With
Ed Wood, Burton was able to indulge
his penchant for experimental movie making and decided not to tell
Wood's story from an objective, realistic standpoint, but instead to
tell it almost as Wood himself would have seen it, as a relentlessly
upbeat kind of wacky B-movie. The darker aspects of Wood's life
story are either given a comical slant (for example the director's
overt transvestism) or airbrushed out of the picture altogether (his
slow descent into depression and alcoholism). What Burton
delivers is a moving and funny portrait of a man who, despite his
complete lack of talent, manages to live his dream, driven by a truly
staggering level of misplaced self-belief and perseverance. From
a biography of Wood by Rudolph Grey entitled
Nightmare of Ecstasy, screenwriters
Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski avoid ridiculing Wood but instead
portray him as a kind of post-modern hero, someone we should admire not
for his achievements but for his persistence and artistic individualism.
Johnny Depp has commented that the role of Ed Wood is the one that
restored his interest in acting at a time when he was becoming
intensely disillusioned with his career. Certainly, Depp's
performance in this film is one of his most nuanced and memorable, a
beguiling portrayal of a complex, morally ambiguous individual whose
lack of ability is surpassed by his boundless optimism. The Ed
Wood that Depp portrays is not one any biographer would recognise but
rather how Wood may have seen himself, a misunderstood genius who
genuinely does believe he can make it big in the movies. The most
poignant ingredient of the film is its depiction of Wood's friendship
with the horror icon Bela Lugosi. Even though the film plays fast
and loose with the facts (Lugosi remarried before he died and was not
quite so bereft in his final years as the film suggests), it offers a
sobering commentary on how Hollywood treats its erstwhile legends,
reminding us that showbusiness is the most brutal business there is.
The real star of the film is not Depp, but Martin Landau, who is so
convincingly made up as the elderly Bela Lugosi that you'd almost swear
the once revered king of horror had agreed to be brought back to life
just so that he could feature in a Johnny Depp movie. Landau not
only looks like Lugosi, he sounds like him and gives a near-perfect
imitation of his mannerisms and acting style in his declining
years. It is Landau's knockout performance - suitably
rewarded with a Best Supporting Actor Oscar - that humanises Depp's
flawed character and gives the film its poetry and tenderness, as well
as a distinct twang of bitter irony. The film won a second Oscar
for its make up, another tribute to the skill with which it resurrects
the spirit of Bela Lugosi. Ah, children of the night...
Although it was extremely well-received by the critics,
Ed Wood proved to be a major box
office flop, recouping only five million of its 18 million dollar
production cost. It is easy to attribute the film's failure to
find an audience to its downbeat subject matter - who in his right mind
would want to sit down and watch the life story of a deluded
loser? Burton's decision to make the film in black-and-white may
also have hurt its box office potential, leading Joe Public to think
that it was an art film of little relevance to a contemporary
audience. Since its first dismal release,
Ed Wood had acquired the status of
a modern classic and may well come to be judged as Tim Burton's most
important film, as well as a career highpoint for Johnny Depp.
Ed Wood isn't just a biopic
about a minor, all-but-forgotten filmmaker. It is a film that
prompts us to question what greatness really is
(who is to say what constitutes great art?), as well as
serving as a modern fable that encourages us to stick with our dreams, to
persevere even if the rest of the world thinks we are deluded and
talentless. We live for ourselves, not for others, and so if we
have a burning desire to revive the career of a faded film star
by getting him to jump into a pond in the dead of night and wrestle
with an inanimate giant octopus, nothing should dissuade us from doing
so. Ed Wood may not have been Orson Welles but this does not
prevent him from connecting with us and inspiring us, through Tim
Burton's engrossing and idiosyncratic personal tribute to his life and
work.
© James Travers 2012
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
Edward D. Wood, Jr. is a struggling Los Angeles playwright who is
determined to make his name in the movies. When he hears that
producer George Weiss is planning to make a film on the life story of
Christine Jorgensen, Ed sees his opportunity and tries to convince
Weiss that, because he has a fetish about dressing up in women's
clothes, he is the ideal man to direct the film. Weiss is
unimpressed by Ed's spiel but gives him one chance to prove himself, by
directing a cheap exploitation picture entitled 'I Changed My
Sex!' Whilst preparing the film, Ed runs into his idol Bela
Lugosi, a faded horror film star who lives on the brink of poverty as
no one wants to hire him these days. Aware that Lugosi still has
crowd-pulling potential, Ed gives him a part in his film, which is now
titled 'Glen or Glenda'. The film proves to be a total disaster
and when Ed fails to find a producer willing to back his next project
he takes his girlfriend Dolores's advice and decides to go it
alone. Raising money for his next masterpiece, 'Bride of the
Atom', is not easy but he finally finds a backer, in the form of meat
packing magnate Don McCoy. Enlisting the help of Bela Lugosi a
second time (in what would be the actor's last speaking role), Ed
delivers another monster-sized turkey, but the young filmmaker refuses
to let his enthusiasm be dented by another failure. As Ed
contemplates his future, Lugosi's health takes a turn for the worse and
shortly after Ed has filmed him standing outside his home the actor
dies. Even though his leading man is dead and buried, Ed decides
he will be the star of his next film, 'Grave Robbers from Outer
Space'. All he needs to do is to find a Bela Lugosi look-alike
and convince a congregation of God fearing Baptists to finance the film
and Ed will have earned his place in movie history, alongside his hero,
Orson Welles...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.