Friday, April 3, 2009

Gigantic: Matt Aselton’s debut feature

Wins Top Prize at AFI Dallas

Starring Zooey Deschanel, Paul Dano (Now shooting “The Extra Man” with Katie Holmes, “There Will be Blood”, “Little Miss Sunshine”)
Edward Asner, Jane Alexander & John Goodman
Written and directed by Matt Aselton

An unmarried, (and uninvolved) working class man of twenty something in search of a life's fantasy/mission/goal; to adopt a Chinese baby.

Gigantic is an empty fantasy style film that can proudly boost about its extraordinary acting. But why these great performers decided to take the job remains unclear.

For starters, what does the title signify? That an immediate comprehensible answer does not come to mind even after one lives through the film experience is a serious problem. The second problem is with the "attacker". Is he real, a fantasy, a product of drugs too many, a rip off of one of the brothers? That said.........


John Goodman is so so so funny The Chinese baby at the end of the film is a delight, a wonderful memorable character but what is the film about?

I loved Jane Alexander, how could I not. The only down moment was again the woman, the mother John Goodman's former wife who was so out of it, such a downer. Why is it always the women who miss the boat, who cause the real pain and irreparable problems in film plots.

In my opinion what is wrong with this film is the private references and important personal memories that somehow never rise up to public comprehension.
What is right with this film is the fun in the making that comes across the screen and the acting. The acting and character stretches are well worth seeing.

Opening Today in NYC

LindaZises
WBAI Women Collective

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"For starters, what does the title signify?"

From The Playlist: 'To that end, Aselton remarked on the significance of the film's title. "This idea kept coming up of 'gigantic' because I think it's a childish word, to describe something as 'gigantic' and that sort of appeals to the innocence of things. Also, in the title sequence we're looking back at Manhattan and we wrote 'Gigantic' very small against the city skyline and that's how you feel when you live here sometimes, that the whole city is bigger than you."'

Linda Zises said...

Your reference brings up the question of the role of the film reviewer. To explain a film or to comment upon it:

I think a title is the first line of attack for getting people to see the film just as my title for the review should bring an audience but with a film the title needs to be self evident, or at least evident upon seeing the film and this i felt did not happen with gigantic.

What physical setting doesn't make us realize how small and insignificant we really are?

I suppose everything outside of us is gigantic when we are children and when we get older, nature still overwhelmes, feels larger than life as does a skyscaper or the factory.

thank you for your comment/explanation


LindaZises