Edward Scissorhands
Sometimes the purest form of artistic expression is when said artist is able to successfully filter their own personal experience and perspective (political shenanigans notwithstanding) directly into their art in such a way that it is not only fully palatable to the viewer but also relatable to anyone who can ever say they felt even slightly inclined to the feelings of that artist ever. Tim Burton in 1990 was a guy at the height of his powers, having made several trademark off kilter but nonetheless highly commercially successful films by that point, so much so that Hollywood was willing to literally offer him a blank check so that he could do virtually ANYTHING that he wanted in the cinematic realm, original or otherwise. And so he came up with this, a near brilliant, dark, satiric fairy tale utilizing a main character that he had managed to make up completely from his own imagination. In fact, he had based the characterâs look almost entirely on scribbles and drawings that he had done when he was just a kid and now with the carte blanche go ahead from the studio, he set about crafting a entire story and screenplay around that title character, bringing to the table what was said to be a lifetime of alienation and isolation since Burton was always said to have been that weird yet brilliant kid who could never fit in amongst his peers, not to mention that his Edward with the techno punk look that he carried about him is often credited as having given birth to the still formenting at the time âgoth / emoâ movement. In the context of the story itself, Edward is not even really human, but is actually a factory robot who somehow was rebuilt and then imbued with a heart and soul by a kindly old Inventor (Vincent Price, Burtonâs idol who was not looking all too well in his last onscreen performance) who unfortunately had suddenly dropped dead before he could complete his âcreationâ and fashion a pair of human looking hands onto him. This had led to Edward being left all alone in his castle that overlooks a pleasant ânormalâ suburban neighborhood, giving isolation a whole new meaning since it is not stated exactly for just how long he had been alone since the man who had built him had died while it is also implied that he does not age either. Finally one day the local neighborhood Avon Lady from the neighborhood down below (after being told on her normal rounds to fuck off by her very own friends who never seem to buy anything from her) decides to come calling at the castle in a desperate attempt to see if anyone with money might live there and thus encounters Edward himself, becoming so despondent with him and his living conditions that she just up and decides to take him home with her. Surprisingly, this is probably the key relationship in the whole movie right here despite the whole âlove storyâ that is also on hand, with Dianne Wiest (still probably the least regarded two time Oscar winning actress ever) as The Avon Lady becoming the first thing that Edward has that even so much as resembles an adoptive mother in his life (as opposed to Priceâs father figure Inventor) and perhaps because of that the script winds up never betraying her as being anything other than the sweet, caring person that she appears to be (despite her having a sadly morbid obsession with the Avon Beauty Products that she sells and the remote possibility that she only brought Edward home to use him as her guinea pig so that she can work on her own makeup skills). Eventually, we meet the rest of her family too, including her husband played by Alan Arkin (giving a wonderfully understated turn as the kindly yet oblivious father), her bratty precocious son (Robert Oliveri), and the beautiful teenage daughter Kim (Winona Ryder, playing it as a blonde and not looking half bad doing so). Of course, even as Edward falls for her, we find out that typically enough she is saddled with a tough talking, asshole boyfriend played by (in the filmâs most original piece of casting) former Brat Packer and John Hughes whipping boy Anthony Michael Hall, a long way removed from his celebrated âgeekâ days and now playing the type who would actually relish in bullying his very own characters from movies like Breakfast Club and Weird Science. Even better though, is the slow build that they give him as a villain in the story, starting him off as a loudmouth, slightly dickish but still somewhat amicable rich kid who seems to have severe issues with his (never shown) father, but then when he senses Edwardâs feelings for his girl and (even worse) sees that she has an unusual interest in being protective of him, he more and more starts to lose his cool until by the end he finally reaches the level of full fledged, red faced, murderously psychotic bad guy, and Hall should be commended for risking his own adult stardom to play such an eminently dislikable character. This of course also brings into focus the true statement on society that Burton seems to want to make, that Edward with his âfreakâ look to him and seemingly many years in isolation, is actually that rarest of things, a truly sweet, pure, innocent soul, and that is also the quality that when detected by people (except for Wiest and her family) seems to bring out the absolute awful worst in them to the point of downright hostility, as even the local Bible Thumper (who in many ways herself was considered a freak by the others) who is the first to condemn Edward as being something demonic based solely on the way he looks has by the end of the story herself become âacceptedâ as being a part of the crowd of lynch mob style haters who had earlier embraced (and used) Edward for his exceptional gardening skills and hair cutting abilities before turning on him for not giving in to their own temptations and attempts to corrupt him, most notably Kathy Baker (in full Peg Bundy mode) as the (admittedly pretty sexy) bored, lonely housewife whose cougar instincts go into full overdrive at merely the sight of someone who is just so DIFFERENT than everybody else like Edward, but after he runs away from her seduction attempt, turns out to be a low enough excuse for a human being that she tells everyone that it was a rape attempt on his part instead. Sadly, it is this lie (and a reprehensible robbery attempt that Edward is framed and implicated for by Hall) that destroys his reputation in the neighborhood (and validates the Bible Thumperâs claims that Edward is every bit the monster that she first took him to be), and even worse is the fact that Ryderâs supposedly sweet and virtuous love interest (who had full knowledge of Hall setting him up for the robbery attempt) merely stands by when Edward refuses to snitch them out to the cops and says nothing herself to clear his name and in essence takes the side of her scumbag boyfriend, with her only coming around when she sees that there really is a literal lynch mob now walking the streets looking to flush out the freak (who is still a better person than all of them) from their normal way of life. The object of his love aside, the character of Edward (and the movie) really is held together beautifully by Johnny Depp, who at the time was still just a guy mainly known for being a TV actor, but who came into his own here as a full fledged movie star amazingly playing Edward with not only very little (tentative) bits of dialogue but also through facial expressions and extremely well calculated physical movements in order to bring Burtonâs original creation to life in a cinematic world that seems to be a strange combo of the 60s and 80s with its faded pastel colored houses that all have an identical design to them and an ironic story that seems to imply that the so called ânormalâ people that all live within these houses (all driven by their own fears, prejudices, insecurities, and failures) are actually the real monsters in this world, perfectly willing and able to drive out or even bring harm unto those in their midst whom they consider to be âdifferentâ, mainly because of the fact that the genuinely sweet nature of those who remain uncorrupted by the bullshit of this world only manages to reflect their own faults back onto them tenfold, which is still a powerful message that even now holds sway in our society to this very dayâŚ
9/10