CINEMA: Gigantic

Having sprung to the public’s attention as the preacher who squares up against Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood, actor Paul Dano now enhances his reputation by not only starring in but also producing this quirky and weirdly compelling indie.

He plays Brian, a rather solitary expensive bed salesman with a supportive but highly eccentric family and a compulsion to adopt a baby from China. It’s pretty obvious Brian is never going to find a ‘normal’ girlfriend so when zany Harriet (Zooey Deschanel) arrives to collect a bed for her father Al (John Goodman) a match made in bed heaven seems on the cards, for Harriet and especially loudmouth, un-PC Al are as out there as they can possibly be.

From hereonin things slowly unfold to include Brian’s two successful brothers, his magic mushroom popping dad (Ed Asner) and a crazy tramp who seems hell-bent on killing Brian for no obvious reason. We learn that Al’s bad back means he has to remain prone for much of the movie, Harriet is very probably psychotic and Brian, although as sweet-tempered as a puppy, is capable of extreme violence when provoked far enough.

Gigantic is a bit like Marmite: you’ll either love its off the wall, totally random nature, or you’ll hate that it has no regular story structure.

Dee Pilgrim