Big Fish
No, I swear this isn’t just because there’s also a giant fish in South of Midnight. Big Fish’s big fish doesn’t talk, anyway. No, mostly this one’s maybe the most traditional of films to go seek out, just on the strength of some undeniably captivating tall tales, and some really wonderful performances backing them up. It helps that this is Tim Burton still on his A-game, still not giving into his worst instincts, but imbuing all the magical elements with a distinct brand of weirdness.
Where it most links up with South of Midnight, though, is in the town of Spectre, a seemingly perfect Southern purgatory where sunshine, flowers and lemonade are all you need, despite also giving our dear hero William Bloom the tiniest glimpse to the other side of reality. That material is the strongest in the film by far, but it’s a small part of a genuinely wonderful whole.
