The Criterion Collection

[Herry Dunston]

Oh boy, Bigger than Life. A movie about domestic abuse, substance abuse, addiction, and religious extremism cloaked under the fallacy of 1950s conformity. Love it!

A bit worrisome about the ending. I had to listen to the commentary and watch the featurette with Nicolas Ray's widow to reassure myself that it was done deliberately out of irony. Or not. Can't be too sure about it, but it wouldn't prospectively end well either way.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Herry Dunston

Oh boy, Bigger than Life. A movie about domestic abuse, substance abuse, addiction, and religious extremism cloaked under the fallacy of 1950s conformity. Love it!

A bit worrisome about the ending. I had to listen to the commentary and watch the featurette with Nicolas Ray's widow to reassure myself that it was done deliberately out of irony. Or not. Can't be too sure about it, but it wouldn't prospectively end well either way.

Here's my User Review of Bigger Than Life. It's a great film with an immaculate video presentation by Criterion.

As suburban nuclear families endeavored to live up to ideals of success and happiness in the postwar economy of 1950s America, the dark side roads of this strive for conformity were often explored in the cinema of that era. Some films used science fiction scenarios as metaphors for family tensions, and the depictions of the father with a strange red mark on his neck who becomes hostile and abusive toward his son after he falls under the control of extraterrestrials in 1953's Invaders from Mars or the scientist father whose focus on his occupation literally turns him into a reclusive monster in 1958's The Fly undoubtedly struck a nerve with audiences of the time. Other films, such as Nicholas Ray's memorable pair of Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Bigger Than Life (1956), were more direct, but no less unsettling, in their attempts to explore the angst and quiet desperation of individuals who broke down or crashed somewhere along the highway to the American Dream.

In Bigger Than Life, James Mason plays Ed Avery, a father who suffers from a rare artery condition while working two jobs to support his family, and is saved by a prescription of a "miracle drug", cortisone, which enables him to return to his productive everyday life. When Ed's dependency on the medication gradually spirals out of control, his wife, his young son, and his friends are increasingly affected by his deteriorating grip on sanity.

The premise of Bigger Than Life is just as relevant today, and many contemporary viewers may, as I did, hear Radiohead's chillingly monotone lyrics, "fitter, happier, more productive", going through their heads as the movie plays out. When the side effects of Ed Avery's wonder drug start to manifest themselves and Ed declines his wife's advice to return to the doctor because of his hesitation to incur more medical bills, I thought of my own long-standing tendency to ignore occasional illness symptoms simply because I am daunted by the prospect of reading through evasive and complex health insurance stipulations or playing telephone ping-pong back and forth between my insurance provider and a medical billing office. Today, in 2013, when an estimated 70% of Americans take prescription drugs, when foreclosures are commonplace in the wake of the early 2000s push for increased home ownership, and many everyday people slip through the cracks and go under if they are faced with just one unexpected medical crisis, we realize that Ed Avery, who is introduced to us by way of an opening scene that shows him beleaguered by frustration and pain as he sits at his school desk, exists in somewhere in each one of us to some extent.

Bigger Than Life stands miles above more recent suburban discord films, like The Ice Storm, American Beauty, or Revolutionary Road, because it examines the trials and tribulations of a nuclear family with genuine empathy without resorting to dismissive smugness, and provides practical everyday glimpses into financial woes and embarrassing setbacks that can plague good people who only want the best for their loved ones. While I would not rank this particular film quite on the same level as my absolute favorite Criterion titles, I do believe that it is the best cinematic depiction of suburban family ideals gone wrong that I have seen to date.

This Criterion Blu-ray presentation of Bigger Than Life explodes with lively colors and detail that make the most of this DeLuxe Color CinemaScope feature. Yellow taxi cabs look wonderfully bright, shadows look appropriately ominous, and facial reaction expressions look detailed even from a distance. Bigger Than Life features a decent amount of helpful extras, including an informative commentary that I enjoyed after my first viewing and a pleasingly insightful critique of the film by Jonathan Lethem, the author of Motherless Brooklyn.

[aes3728]

Today was a tough day. Had to pack up all my films and tv for two weeks in a storage unit. One lease ended and the other doesnt begin until the 15th. Im gonna have some dependency issues.

[ultlife2013]

Bigger Than Life is very good. I rented it awhile back and really enjoyed it.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by Ausjdm

Only I know the identity of JW since we are friends on Facebook muhaa lol!!!

I've seen his mug. Sharp guy.

[soarinsteven]

Bergman has always been iffy for me, but a couple of weeks I decided to finally watch Autumn Sonata. It started off cold for me as per usual with Ingmar, but I grew to like it and to love it with each passing second.

Watched two more Bergmans for the first time the other day Summer Interlude and Summer with Monika.

Summer Interlude is beautiful, poetic filmmaking filled with swoon worthy romance and heartbreaking tragedy. This worked for me on every level. Since the romance is show in flashbacks I knew the story was gonna end in tragedy, but as I watched I kept hoping and pretending the couple were gonna live happily ever after. When the tragedy does take place it happens so sudden it truly feels like a punch to the stomach. One of my favorite sub-genres is the tragic romance, and this is one of the best I've seen in a while.

Summer with Monika I liked a bit less. Whereas the lovers in SI was about exploring the innocence of youth and first love, (it's kind of amazing how well the film works even today when so much of the film is just leading up to that first kiss!) the lovers in SwM come off no more than horny teenagers. Despite their tough home and work environments especially Monika's who has to suffer abuse from her heavy drinking father, and sexual harassment from co-workers I didn't find them terribly sympathetic. Particular when they do get married, have a child (I love Bergman's use of eclipses...we never see their families react to their union) and he's working a low paying job, but going to classes to get that higher paying job, and Monika just wants that big house, new clothes, and all the other luxuries she desires NOW NOW NOW. But once abuse rears its ugly head in the relationship I had to start from scratch how I felt about these characters, and I still am. Amazing how in 1953 Bergman could make a film like this with all the sexuality, nudity, and the fact that the film ends with Monika leaving her husband and abandoning her child. Unthinkable to imagine release like this coming out of a Hollywood. Apparently, when it was released in the US in 1955 it was marketed as an exploitation film cut down from 96 mins to 62 mins, and was called Monika, the Story of a Bad Girl.

[Scottie]

On the subject of Ingmar Bergman, am I the only one who enjoys Summer with Monika the least? It wasn't a bad film, but I just couldn't get into it at all.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by iScottie

On the subject of Ingmar Bergman, am I the only one who enjoys Summer with Monika the least? It wasn't a bad film, but I just couldn't get into it at all.

I liked it well enough, though it didn't knock me out. Something about the ending

[Show spoiler]after they come back from their brief excursion that resonated with me, plus I like the shot of her smoking the cigarette and looking all bada$$.

[Sinep]

Did anyone see the newsletter with the clue at the bottom..its a bunch of horned people ..

[RandyK]

[aes3728]

Originally Posted by RandyK

Fellini's Satyricon!

[CinemaBlu]

Originally Posted by aes3728

Fellini's Satyricon!

Sweet!!! I had no idea what it was. You're right. It's a bunch of Satyrs at a convention.

This is definitely going in my collection.

[blkhrt]

Originally Posted by aes3728

Fellini's Satyricon!

Good thinking. The first thing that popped into my head was The Devils, but the con aspect just didn't make sense.

[LPMA]

Originally Posted by CinemaBlu

Sweet!!! I had no idea what it was. You're right. It's a bunch of Satyrs at a convention.

This is definitely going in my collection.

Seems like they're on a Fellini fest with this month's announcement of La Dolce Vita and now this.

I was hoping for a Mulholland Dr. hint, but I guess they might not do one with the news "out".

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by iScottie

On the subject of Ingmar Bergman, am I the only one who enjoys Summer with Monika the least? It wasn't a bad film, but I just couldn't get into it at all.

Like I posted a couple years ago, it was quite the departure for Bergman to make such a film which is almost French New Wave in style. So, I really took to it! But then again, I'm a bit of a Bergman stalwart, so my affinity to Monika is only natural. I find too many of his films to traverse the same territory stylistically and thematically.

[PowellPressburger]

It is cool to be getting more Fellini, but my wish list BLU upgrade title is Juliette of the Spirits. I just think it would be a knockout in HD.

[CinemaBlu]

Originally Posted by LPMA

Seems like they're on a Fellini fest with this month's announcement of La Dolce Vita and now this.

There haven't been any Fellini releases in a while. It's been mostly Kurosawa and Bergman.

I wonder if they also got the rights to Fellini's Roma.

[SammyJankis]

Now I can really take up on Abdrewes' recommendation.

[The Great Owl]

I always associate the title, "Satyricon", with the Meat Beat Manifesto album of that title that was released during the early 1990s when I was in college. Great stuff!

I'd like to see the Fellini film as well, of course.

[CinemaBlu]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I always associate the title, "Satyricon", with the Meat Beat Manifesto album of that title that was released during the early 1990s when I was in college. Great stuff!

I'd like to see the Fellini film as well, of course.

The official title of the film isn't Satyricon, but Fellini Satyricon.