10 January 2010

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

site_28_rand_1172845867_imaginarium_of_doctorpub_627

Terry Gilliam is one of my favorite directors. He was in Monty Python’s Flying Circus, but was rarely seen; he did the funky animations. As such, he has an eye for wacky and entrancing visuals, mostly in a very musty sort of dirty universe. The Imaginarium shows he can also pull off a very nice clean look as well, although he keeps the slightly horrifying off-kilter feeling so very present in films like Brazil and 12 Monkeys.

This is a beautiful film; beautiful sets, visuals, and people. The majority of the real world is shown in a dirty setting with fanciful costumes amid slightly seedier parts of what I believe is England. In the Imaginarium, which is actually (mostly) the inside of the Doctor’s mind, the scenes are very reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland or perhaps Mirrormask, displaying a variety of mythical and fanciful landscapes.

The people, for me, were the best part. Possibly the fact that will bring the most people in to see this film is that it was Heath Ledger’s final performance. It’s a good one; not quite as good as his role in The Dark Knight, but it could have been if he had been around for the whole making of the film. He died half-way through. His scenes are all outside of the Imaginarium, and his character is replaced by Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell inside. This of course was not originally the plan, but it was made to work, possibly improving the film as a whole. We also have Lily Cole’s elfinly beautiful face to look at, which might have been my favorite part of the movie. Tom Waits plays the devil and does a smashing job of it. Mini-Me’s in it too.

The story is not the most original in the book. Like Avatar the film relies primarily on its visuals to make itself worth your while, but it’s definitely less derivative than Cameron’s blockbuster. What I really liked about it was its refusal to explain everything for the audience. I left a little confused, but that’s okay! I think it’s better for a movie to leave some questions for further viewing.

A fitting send-off for an actor who ended too soon.

No comments: