'The Weirdo Factor'

Symphony Space hosts a marathon of screenings Saturday dedicated to Tim Burton, whose Gothic vision and cryptic imagery have inspired countless filmmakers and filmgoers worldwide. The program includes the director's recent stop-motion animation, The Corpse Bride, his Bicycle Thief-influenced feature debut Pee Wee's Big Adventure, the comic biopic Ed Wood and Burton's masterpiece, Edward Scissorhands, reminding Hallowen-ready audiences all over again that a man with metal hands isn't half as frightening as Avon ladies and animal topiaries.

Caroline Rieders and Drew Tessier, the festival's co-producers, first conceived the series to provide viewers a chance to see his work in a theater. "Burton's films are really best seen on the big screen, and the scope of the worlds he creates are best inhabited in a grand manner," Rieders told The Reeler. Yet she added that there's more to celebrate than just Burton's tendency toward visual surrealism and macabre subject matter. "We chose Pee Wee because, like Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands and Victor [from Corpse Bride], he is a loner type, not the typical 'hero' by any stretch, something I think that Burton really excels at with his films -- making the underdog the guy you want to succeed," she said.

In addition to the Burton features, Symphony Space will also be screening the finalists for the New York Short Film Festival for the Strange and Unusual. "With each film, we will be showing one or two shorts that are deliciously oddball, silly, strange and unusual," Rieders said. "We have some animation, some experimental, some downright funny." The winning filmmaker will receive a year-long pass to all of the Thalia's screenings, and, perhaps most importantly, big-screen exposure to Burton fans.

With his next film -- the long-awaited adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's bloody musical Sweeney Todd -- still in the early stages of pre-production, the series also serves to hold over audiences anticipating Burton's return. Meanwhile, Rieders said she expects the screenings to "spark a rediscovery of Tim Burton's genius," with viewers leaving the festival haunted by the images and ideas of his groundbreaking work.

"Tim Burton has a weirdo factor that no one can deny nor has really duplicated," she said. "He's not afraid to let his freak flag fly, and I think this is something that should be celebrated." -- Jessica Freeman-Slade

The Tim Burton Film Festival runs Oct. 21 at Symphony Space; tickets are available at the venue's Web site.

Posted at October 20, 2006 11:43 AM