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1994's Ed Wood is director Tim Burton's affectionate valentine to 1950's Hollywood and more specifically to Edward D. Wood Jr., a third rate movie director who carved a niche for himself in cinema history as the creator of such schlock classics as Plan 9 from Outer Space and Glen or Glenda..
For my money, this film is Burton's masterpiece and the best of his collaborations with Johnny Depp, primarily because it breaks some of the rules that have come to be associated with this genre. Number one, the subject of the film is not someone who was considered a groundbreaker or innovator in his field and outside of serious film buffs, is someone most people have never even heard of and secondly, the film doesn't paint its subject in a completely flattering light. Wood is presented here as a three-dimensional human being, warts and all, but more importantly, he is presented as a man who had an all-consuming passion for what he did and often took shortcuts, told lies, and hurt people who cared about him to make his dream a reality.
Johnny Depp gives an exuberant and charismatic performance as the title character, a man who really wasn't very good at what he did, but had a mad passion for it. Martin Landau won a richly deserved Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as actor Bela Lugosi, the actor whose comatose career was briefly revived by Wood, which blossomed into a genuine friendship between the two. It is this friendship that forms the crux of what happens in this film. Depp beautifully conveys Wood's love and respect for Lugosi and watching Wood's denial about Lugosi's drug addiction is touching. Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette, Bill Murray, and George the Animal Steele are also featured as people positively and negatively affected by their presence in Ed Wood's orbit.
Beautiful black and white cinematography and exquisite attention to period detail are icing on the cake in Burton and Depp's respectful salute to a forgotten period in cinema and one of its most forgotten denizens. 8.5/10
For my money, this film is Burton's masterpiece and the best of his collaborations with Johnny Depp, primarily because it breaks some of the rules that have come to be associated with this genre. Number one, the subject of the film is not someone who was considered a groundbreaker or innovator in his field and outside of serious film buffs, is someone most people have never even heard of and secondly, the film doesn't paint its subject in a completely flattering light. Wood is presented here as a three-dimensional human being, warts and all, but more importantly, he is presented as a man who had an all-consuming passion for what he did and often took shortcuts, told lies, and hurt people who cared about him to make his dream a reality.
Johnny Depp gives an exuberant and charismatic performance as the title character, a man who really wasn't very good at what he did, but had a mad passion for it. Martin Landau won a richly deserved Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as actor Bela Lugosi, the actor whose comatose career was briefly revived by Wood, which blossomed into a genuine friendship between the two. It is this friendship that forms the crux of what happens in this film. Depp beautifully conveys Wood's love and respect for Lugosi and watching Wood's denial about Lugosi's drug addiction is touching. Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette, Bill Murray, and George the Animal Steele are also featured as people positively and negatively affected by their presence in Ed Wood's orbit.
Beautiful black and white cinematography and exquisite attention to period detail are icing on the cake in Burton and Depp's respectful salute to a forgotten period in cinema and one of its most forgotten denizens. 8.5/10