Burton envisions
German Expressionism’s
Updated syntax
Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (Tim Burton, 1985)
My favorite superhero movie is Tim Burton’s debut feature film following the iconic hybrid child-man as he seeks to find his stolen bicycle in the basement of the Alamo. Burton has obviously — throughout his career — adopted some aesthetic tendencies in art direction and costume from the German Expressionist movement but he best evokes the cinema of Murnau and Wiene when he does what the original movement was based upon: the visual expression of a character’s inner thoughts. All aesthetics are grounded in principles, which is why Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure is still the only film Burton has made that I think is truly great. Lofty influences aside, Pee-Wee is incredibly funny in a way that could only be funny in cinema. And like all good cinematic comedies, it isn’t afraid to point back at itself and laugh.
This film is available on DVD wherever DVDs are sold.
Cinema Haiku #0008
