Opening 23 Apr 2015
Directed by:
Tim Burton
Writing credits:
Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski
Principal actors:
Amy Adams, Christoph Waltz, Danny Huston
In the 1960s Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz) established himself among the great artists like Andy Warhol by creating images of orphan waifs with large dark eyes set in different settings. Since he was a self-promoting genius, he then came up with the brilliant idea to commercially sell them as prints and post cards, making them accessible to the ordinary people. This brought him fame and fortune. As his fame grew, his greed became even more demanding to the point that he overstepped his boundary, which revealed the truth about the paintings. Through this turmoil his wife divorces him, and the truth comes out that indeed she was the artist, not he.
It is also not a surprise that Tim Burton is a collector of Keane’s work. He uses these haunting sad eyes from her paintings to create an expressionist surreal atmosphere which overflow into the film. It is interesting to note that it was a sensational shock that Margaret Keane (Amy Adams) actually was the artist, but in reality there have always been men who take credit for woman’s work. As Margaret Keane says “From a distance you look like a painter, but up close, there is much more there.” In real life Keane is 87 years old and sells her paintings a gallery in the Napa Valley. (Shelly Schoeneshoefer)
