Film diary.

Two recently-seen movies, outside of the monthly challenge: 

- Big Eyes. (2014; dir. Tim Burton). Biography of painter Margaret Keane; as famous for her pop-kitsch portrayals of children with huge eyes as for her life story proper. For years, her work was plagiarized by husband Walter, who kept her in an emotionally abusive captivity. Margaret’s eventual escape and lawsuit against Walter would become a national cause celebre. 

At first glance, this is an unusual film for Burton, featuring little of his usual Goth trappings and flights of fantasy (apart from an easy sequence where Margaret sees the people around her with those infamous “big eyes”). But on a closer glance it keeps his usual core interest, that of a fragile eccentric nearly broken by a rigid world. Generally a crowd-plesasing feature, with the good characters being pure and vulnerable, and the bad characters being slimy and despicable. Simple, then, but rather entertaining. Thus recommended both for fans of Burton (again, despite the lack of Goth visuals and dark fantasy) and in general for people seeking a nice drama with which to kill a couple hours. 

- D’après une histoire vraie (aka Based on a true story) (France, 2017. Dir. Roman Polanski). Novelist Delphine has penned a best-seller drawn from her real life —which may have been a slight mis-step, considering the anonymous hate mail she’s been receiving (both online and printed) accusing her of throwing her family under the bus. Or, maybe that’s just regular anon hate. Either way Delphine is struggling to find a theme for her next book. Amusing herself with an ardent fan might provide some inspiration. Of course, it’s a little disconcerting that nobody seems to have seen or heard this other young woman…

A relatively low-key and relatively minor Polanski offering, with most of the requisite psychosexual trappings kept vaguely implied rather than delved into. Most of the twist are probably easy to guess for longtime thriller and mystery fans, though making the story itself an examination of the writing process does offer some interesting concepts here and there (for example, using a fictitious character to delegate unpleasant duties like attending a boring conference or dealing with internet trolls). A mostly entertaining film, nothing special. Based on the novel by Delphine de Vigan.