Movie #166 Big Time *1988*

And now for something completely different.

I have never understood what is so great about Tom Waits.  He has a very distinctive voice.  Deep and gravely.  He sounds like Buster Poindexter with throat cancer to me.  Big Time is a rock-doc of sorts.  It is really an amalgamation of many things.  Part concert footage, part sketch comedy, part non-narrative / avant guard / 1980's 3:00am MTV programing.

Tom plays many roles in this picture.  Musician is one of them.  Like an anorexic Ron Perlman he lumbers around on stage stomping and hunched over as if he was channeling Daniel Plainview from the coda of There Will be Blood.  The concert its self is an odd mix of music genres.  There is rock-a-billy, free form jazz, different world music types, and traditional ballads.  Due to the style and nature of the film I am not sure if Waits is paying tribute to these varying musical tropes or mocking them.  During the concert and largely through the film there is an overpowering use of the color red.  That singular color was very off putting to me.

At other times during the film Waits acts like a stand up comic and a Spalding Gray like raconteur.  I was surprised at Waits comedic timing.  He was quite funny.  I can see where someone like Jim Jarmusch could harvest the acting and comedic talents from within Waits.

Overall I found the novelty of this film to wear off very quick though.  It reminded me of the doc within a doc that Mr. Brainwash made in Exit Through the gift Shop.  To the point that Big Time used a cut of a static TV to segway to the next random scene. 

In closing I will say that it is clear that Mr Waits is passionate and dedicated to his art and I commend him for that.  I can't help but wonder though if his fans aren't confusing originality and uniqueness for genius.  There was not much for me to grab a hold of in this film.  I give it ★★.  But I would recommend this film for his fans and I welcome anyone to explain to me how Tom Waits is brilliant.  He is my Dario Argento of music.  Check out the Trailer Park to see a clip from the film.  This film is available on Netflix Watch Instant.  It is not even available on DVD!

Big Time [VHS]