Gigantic

So I went out with my little film-o-phile friend to the British Film Institute (of course, where else?) last night.  He’s the fella that took me to see The Corpse Grinders (takes place in a cat food factory that uses human flesh as its main ingredient).  Who needs highbrow when you can have high camp? In his defense he also took me to see a film I thought I’d imagined called Over The Edge that stars a teenage Matt Dillon in his first movie role.  I had often thought about this elusive film from my dim and distant past but try as I might, I just could never find any evidence it had ever been made.  In fact I started to believe I had made this up – a mash-up of  bits from other films to form this personal portrait of teenage boredom.  If I could do that, I’d be making films not rambling on a blog no doubt – so you see my dilemma.  It didn't help that I couldn't remember the name of the film, so imagine my utter delight when it turned out to be the film for that particular outing.  This time however, the BFI is currently having an extended run of James Dean movies and my mate – let’s call him Twisted Sister – asked if I’d like to go see Dean’s last film, Giant.  He forewarned me it was “quite long”.  I mean, how long can “quite long” be?  

Over THREE hours long it turns out.  In for a penny….but I have to admit, it flew by.  I also have to admit I’d never seen it.  It flew, not because the story line bounced along seamlessly, it really didn't.  I've never seen two people tussle, court, fall in love, get married and change lives so fast.  Suffice to say the film isn’t a love story say like Gone With The Wind is.  I did get the impression it was kinda hoping to be like GWTW spanning as it does generations of the ranch farming Benedict family.  It didn't quite pull it off in my very humble (never produced anything in my life) opinion –so what do I really know?  Well, I know cheese.  And this was cheesy in many parts but in such a stylised way, I loved it.  From Liz Taylor’s pretty and contained militant-ism about the minority rights of her Mexican house servants to the predictable rise of down-at –heel social misfit Jett Rink, played by Jimmy D who finds out the hard way money does not solve problems.  

Oh but the colours, the youthful beauty of these true cinema giants; it was a step back in time when things were more vibrant and so lithe.  I didn't recognise Dennis Hopper the first few times he was on screen – he looks like a Ken doll.  And I love it.  Course by the time the film credits stumbled over the finish line there was just enough time to high-tail it to the tube for the last train.  I took the opportunity to read over the BFI information sheet you collect as you go into the film so you can get all muso about it.  It tells me that James Dean died 13 days after his final day of shooting the film.  It had a Kurt Cobain effect on the film for sure but not without basis.  Watch it if you have three weeks to spare and notice how Dean squeezes every last nuance of the character out of every scene.