At AMS Pictures, we not only make pictures that move you, we like to watch them, too!  We’ve asked one of our staffers to choose a favorite classic or recently released film they recommend.

Tammy Nguyen Lee recommends Edward Scissorhands

Next year marks the 20th anniversary of Edward Scissorhands, a beautiful gothic fairy tale directed by Tim Burton and one of my absolute favorite films.

Edward Scissorhands is a haunting tale of alienation and unrequited love, and as he does best, director Tim Burton finds the beauty and charm in a character that is on the outside ugly and grotesque. The film follows the unusual journey of an odd, but gentle soul created by a lonely Inventor (Vincent Price) who is left unfinished with scissors for hands when his creator meets an untimely death. Edward (Johnny Depp), the creature, remains living in solitude in the inventor’s castle until Peg, an unassuming Avon-selling mom (Diane Wiest), ‘rescues’ poor Edward and brings him back to her cookie-cutter suburban town. With the best intentions, she pathetically attempts to give him a make-over to help him fit in, but is unable to hide his most obvious physical feature. His scissor hands become the subject of much discussion in the town, drawing reactions from curiosity to loathing to lust. Edward becomes the town’s new novelty, turning his shearing talent into a performance art of ballerina hedges, dinosaur bushes and even hair creations as outlandish and strange as he.

Edward’s childlike innocence is a counter to his physical appearance, making him and his journey the more endearing as he falls in love with his surrogate family’s oldest daughter -- a blonde, gum smacking cheerleader named Kim (Winona Ryder) who finds him more freak than friend. Edward finds humorous and desperate ways to show his affections for her, ultimately becoming an unwitting pawn in a criminal scheme mastered by Kim’s jealous bully boyfriend, Jim (played by a grown-up Anthony Michael Hall).Through Edward, Kim begins to see her superficial life with new eyes.

As Christmas is upon the town, Edward’s talents turn towards making ice sculptures, where in a lovely magical scene, he creates snow for Kim to experience for the first time. But a small uncontrollable accident causes Edward to injure her, giving Jim and the town the easy opportunity to turn against Edward. Love and obsession change to misunderstanding and fear. Reminiscent of Frankenstein, the angry mob hunts Edward down, driving him back to the castle where he came. In the end, Kim is the one who comes to his rescue, convincing the townspeople that their monster is dead. Normalcy slowly returns to Suburbia, and the magic that once Edward brought becomes a faint legend remembered by only a few. In a final scene, the story’s narrator is revealed as an elderly Kim, retelling the tale of Edward to a small child as it symbolically snows.

Burton explores experiences reflexive of his own unusual life and uses actors he would team with again and again – capitalizing on the then true life romance between Ryder (Beetlejuice) and Depp (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeny Todd and Alice in Wonderland.) The film is filled with beautiful and jarring cinematic images, a haunting score by Danny Elfman, quirky and memorable character performances, and universal themes of alienation and unrequited love that are at the same time poignant and tragic. If you haven’t seen it, pick up a copy today. It’s a great holiday movie!