Tim Burton

Yesterday I went to the TIFF Lightbox theatre in downtown Toronto. As a movie aficionado, when this building opened and I was still in Ottawa I was really curious about it. Yesterday, I was underwhelmed. It's more a theatre than anything museum-like. And the building itself is quite ugly - glass, four floors, no real good spaces.

I also went to the theatre because of the Tim Burton exhibition the set up. The exhibition was initially in New York's MoMA. I've seen a lot of Tim Burton's films but I've never really been a fan of them. At all. Still, I'm interested in his characters and his wacky way of depicting characters. The exhibition had a few props from the films but most were drawings. Most of the sketches were character sketches - they didn't have a story to them and they were grouped together just because they were part of the same movie or project. The best drawings weren't even by him - it was his collaborators who fleshed out the scenarios in which Tim Burton's characters lived. He is hugely influenced by German Expressionism which I find good. If his style were complex but repetitive and vice versa it'd be okay, but his style if both repetitive and not complex. Stick-out hair, bent bodies, sharp angles or round faces over and over again. Okay, I get the point! Now put them into context! Same with the stories that were displayed - his stories are too simple and the words are too simple. Basically, there's no depth in his work. I don't know whether it is because of him or it's the curator's fault.

It was okay, I guess, but I'm saying that because I'm reluctant to part with my money right now and I paid money for this. In fact, I'd say I was a bit disappointed in the exhibition and I would not go again.

Speaking of being a film aficionado, I am doing a sort of pilgrimage to Hollywood in March.