Top Film for Each Year of My Life – 1990

Edward Scissorhands

“Forget about holding her hand, man. Think about the damage he could do to other places.”

“Sweetheart, you can't buy the necessities of life with cookies.”
Finally, out of the ‘80s. Unfortunately, I have more or less the same feelings about the early ‘90s as I do about the ‘80s. What is it about the formative years of my life that cause me to look down on them so? I had a happy childhood. Good friends, good family. I imagine it has to do with my love of oldies through my younger years (which eventually became a love of classic rock in high school). My generation’s culture never really appealed to me, it seems.

First off, I must acknowledge one film or forever feel the wrath of my father. Tremors is number two on my list and is great in so many ways, but just fell short. No hard feelings, dad, I still love you.

Never mind that, though. Onward ho! Tim Burton gets written off, a bit casually, as a stylist only. I wholeheartedly disagree. His films hinge on whether you can make the leap into his fantasy worlds. If you can, they work completely on all levels. His run from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure to Big Fish is pretty astounding (ignoring Planet of the Apes and acknowledging that his Batman films fall into a nostalgic blind-spot for me, thus covering my ass against friends with whom I’ve argued about the recent Batman films). I’ll even include his shorts Vincent and Frankenweenie in that run. This “Top Films” exercise just now made me realize how much I enjoy filmmakers who create alternate worlds where the fantastic is possible.
Edward Scissorhands is essentially Frankenstein by way of Burton, only Edward gains some level of societal acceptance. That is, until things start to unravel. The film is sad and whimsical. Dark and beautiful. A surreal look at cookie cutter suburban life set to the fantastic music of the frequent Burton collaborator Danny Elfman. It’s affecting without being overwrought or overbearing.

This marks the first of many collaborations between Burton and Johnny Depp. Thankfully, Depp is, himself, and oddball and willing to take peculiar roles. He has one of the most interesting careers in the history of film and it starts here (he had a few films under his belt, but played fairly familiar characters). We also get to see Anthony Michael Hall shed his dorky image from his John Hughes collaborations to impressive effect (interestingly, he was originally cast in the Matthew Modine role in Full Metal Jacket a few years earlier).
As with most Gilliam films, I struggle to talk about Burton’s movies because they are so visual. Any attempts would ruin the effect, especially if one is expecting something spectacular (which admittedly, one would after I say stuff like that). I haven’t been as happy with Burton’s output lately, but his early work and love of the gothic will always have me coming back for more magic.