Bigger Than Life

Not the most subtle film on the subject, then again, most of Nicholas Ray's films are pretty brash and direct. I don't consider that necessarily a bad thing, I am after all a fan of directors like Gaspar Noé, but the presentation here didn't appeal to me at all, which made certain scenes more obnoxious than impressive.

When Ed goes in for a medical check, the doctors find that he suffers from a rare condition. The outlook is grim and he's only given a few more months to live, but a new wonder drug might just help Ed survive. Ed starts a cortisone treatment and gets better, but he also gets hooked on the drugs.

Mason does a pretty solid job and the build-up of his psychosis is rather nice, but the soundtrack was a real earful and the cinematography often bordered on kitsch. The ending went gleefully over-the-top too. This film needed either a more subtle approach, or more effective styling.