Film News: “Big Eyes” Tells A Woman Artist’s Story

Amy Adams as Margaret Keane

Amy Adams as Margaret Keane in “Big Eyes”

Film critic Jan Lisa Huttner (also known as The Hot Pink Pen and the co-creator of SWAN Day urges everyone to see Amy Adams’ portrayal of the painter Margaret Keane in Big Eyes.

This film is based on the true story of Margaret Keane, a woman artist whose husband claimed credit for all of her paintings. Keane’s paintings of waif-like children with over-sized eyes became very popular in the 1960s and made millions of dollars. Eventually Margaret Keane had to sue her husband for the rights to her own work. The film follows Keane as she gradually gains confidence in herself and finds the strength to take on her husband in the courts.

Jan Lisa Huttner points out that this is one of the few films that traces the career of a successful woman artist, and she has especially high praise for Amy Adams, “This is far and away the greatest female performance to be seen anywhere this year-from art house to multiplex and everywhere in between.”

Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown also endorsed the film this week as “an absolute must-see.” He praises the acting & the fact that the film “provides a glimpse of North Beach when it was a real neighborhood.”