The Big Bang (1989 film)
| The Big Bang | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | James Toback |
| Produced by | Joseph Kanter |
| Starring |
James Toback Anne Marie Keyes Barbara Traub Tony Sirico Fred Hess Veronica Geng Jack Richardson Don Simpson Elaine Kaufman |
| Cinematography | Barry Markowitz |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Big Bang is a 1989 documentary film, directed by Academy Award winner James Toback. The film addresses questions about life and existence. It was released to theaters May 11, 1990 and aired on PBS on August 6, 1991.
The film opens in a fine restaurant with Toback meeting with a Hollywood producer, pitching him the idea for a movie. He says there will be no script, no actors, and no story. It will be a movie “about the people who are in it…about creation and disintegration, God, life, love, sex, crime, madness, death, everything.” The restaurant scene "nods at My Dinner With Andre, the classic model of a raconteur's film.” Toback tells the producer that the idea was inspired by his epiphany that the origin of the cosmos was an “orgasmic explosion of God.” The producer expresses skepticism and reluctance to finance the project.
The film begins to introduce the interview subjects, about 20 individuals who are only identified by their professions—the Astronomer, the Medical Student, the Filmmaker, the Gangster, the Girl, the Humorist, the Writer, the Restauranteuse, the Survivor, and so on.
Their introductions are interspersed by the ongoing pitch between the director and the executive. The Astronomer discusses the creation of the universe with a singularity, the Big Bang, and the development of the stars and galaxies. Toback then asks each of the individuals how they believe the universe was created. Some have no idea. The Humorist believes there must have always been something, rejecting the ideas of nothingness and infinity. The Gangster says “I have no idea. You’d have to ask my brother the priest.” The Girl says it began with “a piece of dust and then there was a squirrel. Then there was a dog. Then there was a cat…”
Toback continues with questions about love and sex. "The responses run the gamut from earnest to flippant, some are quite profound." Some answer more confidently than others. When Toback asks each of them if they believe in God, many say yes, others aren’t so sure. The Writer provides the most unusual answer, saying, “I’ve seen him too many times to believe in him. The last time was in Baltimore, in a hotel. He was in the lobby, arguing about the size of his room.”
"Toback, too, reveals himself in the process of asking his questions, poking fun, in his encounter with the Model (Sheila Kennedy), at his image as a lothario by lounging provocatively close to his attractive subject."
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