Thursday, February 17, 2011

Tim Burton

The Tim Burton Exhibit, curated by the New York Museum of Modern Art and at the Tiff’s Bell Lightbox in Toronto since November, offers a carefully arranged insight into the mind of one of the most deranged filmmakers in contemporary cinema.
From highly polished designs for his stop-motion movies to his high-school sketch books containing some of his earliest works, the exhibit brings a little something from each one of his movies, plus some rare and private productions.
The first thing that strikes you how many movies this guy has a made! One almost forgets that Willy Wonka and Beetlejuice are sons of the same father, or that Alice and Batman were reworked by the same man. And you almost forget that Johnny Depp is always there somehow.
The second thing is, wow, this guy has an incredibly wild (if forever fixated on the same themes) imagination! His designs are unique and his carnivalesque and macabre style has become such a trademark that people will pay money to see his high-school doodles.
But the chance to see the original costume of Edward Scissorhands, Catwoman and sketches for most of his characters is a treat in itself. Besides many of his rare animated, 16 mm short movies and videoclips are also exhibited. Scary fun.

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