Alright, the past two films have both being more of personal
favourites so let’s talk about something that’s a bit more of an obvious
critical darling. Ed Wood was released in 1994, directed by Tim Burton and
starring Johnny Depp in the titular role, following the adventures of the man
who is considered to be the worst director in Hollywood history, Edward D Wood
Jr. Not to turn this into a history lesson but if you’re not aware of him, in
the 1950s Ed Wood was a young aspiring filmmaker who made nothing but was it
almost universally agreed to be objective garbage, all of his films were
terrible and it’s amazing he was ever able to get any work done. And while that
makes an interesting concept for a film, making a biopic on the worst director
in history, I have no idea how accurate this film is to real life and frankly I
don’t care, film is a storytelling medium, not a history lesson, if I cared
about accuracy I’d watch a documentary. So whether or not Ed Wood did behave in
the ways portrayed in this film or if any of the events actually happened and
in this specific way, that doesn’t matter to me.
What makes this film work so well is the main character of
Ed Wood, no real surprise there, there’s a reason I started a ‘My Favourite
Characters’ segment before talking about my favourite films, because to me the
most important part of any story is its characters. So obviously when your film
is based around a single character, they better be damn interesting and…yeah he
is. What works so well on a basic level of this film is Burton doesn’t try to
portray Wood as a misunderstood artist, that his work is secretly masterpieces
and no one can see the genius, nor go the complete opposite way and mock the man for his poorly made films. Wood was a terrible filmmaker, but seeing his reasoning
and thought patterns for how he justifies his choices is fascinating to watch,
a character walks into the set and screws up the take, any other competent director
would have done it a second time, Wood claims that it’s “more realistic” to
leave it in, it’s odd choices like that which really gives the audience a sense
of this guy’s psyche and you completely understand why he is the way he is.
But what really makes the character so damn great is how
passionate he is for filmmaking and this is the key theme of the movie and what
makes it as good as it is. Even if Ed Wood is making terrible films, he’s
getting to make the films he wants to make so why is that a problem? He gets to
tell the stories he wants to tell and as Orson Wells puts it in the film “Don’t
waste your life making other people’s dreams” which creates an interesting conversation
about analysing art, intent of the artist and audience perception. Something
that can’t be denied is just how passionate Ed is about making films, he loves
everything about it, he loves getting to tell stories, he loves making sets, he
loves expressing himself and his creativity and frankly, who the hell should
care if it’s good? He thinks it’s good and he’s fulfilling his dream, it's not hurting anyone in the process so what's the big deal? In fact
the best scene of the movie for me is when Ed meets his idol Orson Wells,
despite the fact the two are complete opposites in both filmmaking styles and
public opinion, the two have a surprising amount in common when it comes to why
they want to make films and the struggles they face along the way. Also while I’m
on the topic of Orson Wells, that’s not Vincent D'Onofrio doing the voice, it’s
acclaimed voice actor Maurice LaMarche who for some reason goes uncredited.
And if this doesn’t hold up as one of the best Johnny Depp performances
ever, yes while there is still some make-up, mostly with the fake teeth and the
handlebar moustache, most of the performance relies solely on his ability to
embody someone entirely different and he completely morphs himself into Ed Wood
and it is surprising he didn’t get a nomination for this. Unlike his co-star
Martin Landau playing the great Bela Lugosi who definitely does a fantastic job
in the film and it’s scary how well he’s able to transform, the character just isn’t
as entertaining to watch for me and I feel Depp is breathing just a little more
life into the role (No pun intended).
The film also completely embraces the setting and sucks you
into the time frame thanks to some great work from Directory of Photography Stefan
Czapsky, not just with shooting in black & white but the lighting feels
much more like a 1940s noir thriller, the sound quality isn’t the greatest and
the score by Howard Shore makes it sound like a sci-fi creature feature of the time.
All of these elements and little touches help the film come together and fit
the time period and make it feel much more appropriate given the source
material. So much more effort was put into the film to have it fit in with the
setting than just filming in black & white, going the extra mile to make it
a more engrossing experience.
This is just another example of why 1994 was one of the
greatest years in cinema history, hell if not the greatest year. Big award
pleasers like Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction & Forrest Gump. As well as
other classics like The Lion King, Natural Born Killers, Leon: The
Professional, then you have classic crowd winners such as Speed, Dumb &
Dumber, The Mask, Ace Ventura, True Lies, The Crow, etc. And now plastered
alongside all these beloved movies is Ed Wood, which honestly still shocks me
this film wasn’t nominated for any of the major awards outside of Best
Supporting Actor. Depp gives a career highlight in what is arguably his best
performance, Burton is doing his best directing job and considering the style
and reputation he had at the time this was a vastly different project to take
on and on top of that it has a ton of Oscarbait, shot in black & white, a
period piece, under appreciated by general audiences but beloved by critics,
set in the romanticised Hollywood while simultaneously acting as a criticism
and pastiche of the exact same setting. Seriously how did this movie skip out
on a nomination but Four Weddings and a fucking Funeral got nominated!?
So yeah, quick recap, great performances, great directing,
great score, great cinematography, great sound design and above all else a
great commentary on the creation of art versus public consumption & criticism.
Absolutely one of the best.
-Danny
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