Big Eyes

On a Scale of 1 to 10, with 10 Being the Best

6

Courtesy of javasbachelorpad.com
Painted by Margaret Keane

Plot: A woman leaves her husband to go to the West Coast to earn a living for her daughter. On the side, she tries to sell her paintings which are typically children and animals with large eyes. One day, at an art fair, she meets a smooth talking man and they fall in love. As the story progresses, her second husband tries to sell her art but with the idea that he painted them and not her as "people don't buy lady art." This is based off the true story of Margaret Keane and her relationship with her abusive husband Walter Keane. According to my research, the movie stays true to the story. It is interesting to watch but I found the story-line predictable. The script writing could have been improved.

Characters/Actors of Note:

Amy Adams playing Margaret Keane: Ms. Adams has stated that she enjoys playing "happy characters." Margaret Keane should not have been played as a happy character. Mrs. Keane has stated that she was afraid for her life when she was around her husband and I found that Ms. Adams did not portray that well. Instead, she tried to bring her quiet nature as sort of the "brightness" of Mrs. Keane's life. I believe that a hint of darkness could have been better incorporated by Ms. Adams because frankly, the situation was pretty dark. The acting was not terrible by any means but I think that the situation was not captured well. 

Christoph Waltz playing Walter Keane: As usual, Mr. Waltz plays a villain that is smooth as he is terrifying. Right off the bat, I knew that Mr. Waltz was going to snap just because he was cast in the film. I wish that they would have shown more of his infidelity side. He was often seen with women but I could have used a scene to actually understand his sleezy nature. They portrayed his business persona well though. To state again, the acting was not bad at all, but there was tweaking to be done.

Music: I did not notice the orchestral music much in this film to be honest. Though the songs that were included, I did enjoy. The one song I liked the best was by Lana Del Rey written specifically for the film. I think that this aspect was pretty well done. No complaints here. 

Camera Work/Cinematography: The aging and cutting in the movie was not done very well. I felt there could have been a better flow between shots and the time laps were confusing. Granted, there were years that would pop-up at the bottom of the screen but it did not feel like 10 years had passed in the movie. The look of the movie was brightly colored and withheld its sharpness. There were digitally added "big eyes" in the film at times which I felt were not done well. They looked blurry and sometimes off center. The concept was nice but the execution fell through. The editing was just done poorly.

RECAP:

I think that the story itself is interesting but the way it was written made it easily predictable. The editing was not done well. The acting was not bad but there could have been better character development. Music was pretty good. You may not be blown away by this movie but I would say watch it for the interesting true-life story-line. 

Courtesy of Time.com

Want me to critique a movie? Comment below!