#502: Edward Scissorhands

Directed by: TIM BURTON
1990, TSPDT Rank #718

I've been catching up on a lot of Tim Burton's films recently, mainly because they have been largely absent from my radar over the years that I have been an active film buff. I've tended to like digging further into the past, often searching for forgotten gems and obscure curiosities instead of paying attention to the widely available works of more popular and revered modern directors such as Tim Burton. There's definitely some worthwhile material in Burton's filmography, but overall it's hard to ignore how many of his films are remakes (i.e. Batman, Sleepy Hollow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Alice in Wonderland, Dark Shadows, etc.) - cultural artifacts from his childhood, "reimagined" with his trademark fairy-tale visual style and playfully macabre sense of humor. The best of his work (which includes this film, along with other truly great films such as Beetlejuice and Ed Wood) creates new legends from fairy-tale versions of modern life, and Edward Scissorhands is a great example of this. It might be Burton's most successful and enduring film overall, plus it features a classic Johnny Depp performance, as well as an endearing role for Winona Ryder, one of my favorite modern actresses - not to mention Vincent Price playing himself.... or an eccentric inventor, depending on how you look at it. This film has already earned the status of a modern classic, which is well deserved, and I'm guessing that it won't become obsolete anytime soon.