JOLLY DAYS

Big Fish

The DVD commentary/interview running the full length of Tim Burton's movie Big Fish is worth listening to. Burton has an eccentric gift, melding the gothic with warmth and a knowing sensibility. Big Fish is about the lies we choose to live with and how they interweave with our present reality — the quotidian modified by filtered memory. If not a great film, it was worth seeing. And again, the commentary was worth the price of admission: Burton is very accessible to an interviewer who is informed and curious — a great combination. Burton noted that he never got as close to his father as he had wished — we always remain most mysterious to those closest to us.