When Steven Spielberg releases a new film attendance is mandatory. It’s not always a great experience but it’s always an interesting demonstration of the strengths and flaws of one of the great directors of our time.
Sometimes his films are facile, sentimental and narratively broken in ways he cannot fix. But occasionally he creates something extraordinary like “E.T. The Extra Terrestrial.”
He dabbles in textures and technologies but always with an eye to the marketplace. At 69 he might consider the Biblical advise to “put away childish things.” Because the awe of childhood has deserted him.
His new film “The BFG,” by the late “E.T.” screenwriter Melissa Mathison is about a spunky orphan girl kidnapped by a giant, played by Tony Award winner Mark Rylance who won an Oscar for Spielberg’s “Bridge of Spies.”
Rylance spent his teenage years in Milwaukee.
“The BFG” is based on a children’s book by Roald Dahl and its arc of jeopardy, discovery and empowerment is familiar from Dahl’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “James and the Giant Peach.” Not to mention works like “Peter Pan” and even “Annie.”
Aspects of “The B.F.G” are also similar to a blackly comic trifle opening this week called “Swiss Army Man.”
Like “Castaway” it is about a man trapped on a remote island but like “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” portrays his dilemma as metaphorical and psychological rather than literal.
His only companion is a corpse that washes ashore and becomes his vehicle for survival – he literally rides it like a surf board – and the blank slate onto which he projects his deteriorating state of mind.
The desperate and suicidal castaway is played by Paul Dano and the dead man, whose head wobbles like a newborn and who oozes various gasses and liquids, by Daniel Radcliffe.
Co-writer-directors Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert – billed as The Daniels – reveal Dano’s interior world through a series of DIY constructions and illustrations made out of found things. The effort recalls “Sunshine” and “Science of Sleep” by director Michel Gondry in theme and execution.
Spielberg too realizes a fantastic environment but on a grand and digital scale that seems artificial within the reality it portrays. The giant and his lair dwarf the girl in ways that recall the work of early effects artist Ray Harryhausen. None of this will be obvious, however, to the young audience for which it is intended.
But it’s as if Spielberg visualizes Dahl’s words not the ideas behind them. All Spielberg’s films really reveal is a guy with mad technical skills. The more resourceful “Swiss Army Man” is small enough to fit in the pocket of the “BFG,” which stands for Big Friendly Giant, but is less than the sum of its parts.
Though Spielberg has all the money in the world available to him when making a film, money has less to do with creativity than the chance to do something special. Filling in the blank space is up to the storyteller.
Dahl does it. Spielberg has done it before. Here’s hoping that he does it again.
“The B.F.G.” **1/2
With Mark Rylance, Ruby Barnhill, Penelope Wilton, Jermaine Clement, Rebecca Hall.
Produced by Frank Marshall, Sam Mercer, Steven Spielberg.
Written by Melissa Mathison. Directed by Steven Spielberg.
Approximate running time: 117 minutes. Rated: PG, mild crude humor.
“Swiss Army Man” **1/2
With Paul Dabno, Daniel Radcliffe, Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
Produced by Miranda Bailey, Lawrence Inglee, Lauren Mann, Amanda Marshall, Eyal Rimmon, Jonathan Wang. Written and directed by Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert.
Approximate running time: 95 minutes. Rated R; language, crude humor, sexual references.
Tags: BFG, Daniel Radcliffe, E.T., Mark Rylance, Paul Dano, Roald Dahl, Spielberg, Swiss Army Man Posted by