Cabba's ReviewsThe Imaginarium of Not-So-Goodnassus
November 5th 2009 13:48
Heath Ledger's final film left me kind of cold, but kind of warm, yet kind of intrigued...Terry Gilliam's latest film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus depicts a wondrous world existing in our current world, that sometimes lacks the conviction needed for us to be drawn in, but at the same time, draws us in so completely during the sequences inside the 'imaginarium'. I am rather torn about the film just because there were so many elements that were so terrific, yet these were balanced out by a few moments in the plot development and even character development that just didn't seem convincing. I don't think I felt an inkling of true sympathy for a character throughout the entire film due to their character.
I felt sympathy at the end just for the fact that Christopher Plummer's character Dr. Parnassus was an old man, and ordinarily, when you see an old man on the streets, you feel a hint of sympathy. It was the same in The Shawshank Redemption when Brooks was sent packing to live in the outside world. None of the characters in Imaginarium felt true or humanistic in any way. I mean, yes they seemingly had a lot to lose but those things would loses momentum if the audience doesn't care for the characters in the first place! I felt the only times when I was intrigued and truly involved in the film was when Heath Ledger's character transformed into one of the three replacement actors Gilliam had to use due to Heath's unfortunately death. Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law all did tremendous jobs in replicating Heath Ledger's performance and were altogether quite amusing to watch. I surprisingly found Jude Law to be most accurate in his imitation because I am not normally a fan of his work, but in this, he was quite charming.
Overall Plot
So The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus revolves around the story of Doctor Parnassus untimely bet with the devil. The film begins with the devil coming to claim his 'prize' but changes his mind and decides to give Doctor Parnassus a few more chances to win back his prize. Dr. Parnassus himself has eternal life and has been through centuries of human years, distributing stories and dreams to the public. The whole setup is a little bit strange considering the film is set in modern times, yet includes all these elements of fantasy and fiction. It is difficult for Gilliam to truly transport the audience into his world when he's constantly going back and forth between the real world and the fantasy world.
The visuals were of course stunning in this film, particularly the costumes Doctor Parnassus and his circus crew wear. The set was also a standout, contrasting magnificently among the dreary streets of modern England. The dollfaced supermodel Lily Cole was also a standout. Her doll features and innocence really captured her character in a nutshell and reduced her need to act significantly. She could've just stood there and her face would've done enough! I'm not saying she was a bad actress, but obviously her looks helped her acting a lot. Her character in the film was supposed to be filled with intrigue regarding her mystical beauty and Gilliam captures that really well.
In terms of Heath Ledger's performance, it was definitely the highlight of the film. His character really excited the audience and it retained shades of good and evil, which made him particularly interesting. His character however was never explained properly and I felt the propellers driving his character to do certain things were not enough. I think that goes for all of the characters. Sometimes the reasoning behind the actions just didn't match. That really took the audience or at least too me away from the magic of their world.
Overall, I think this wasn't a bad film. It had its elements of superiority over other fantasy/adventure films and it had a great deal of imagination that I think is always of a certain standard having come from Terry Gilliam. I have always been a fan of Gilliam, Brazil being my favourite film by him, but somehow for this, he missed the mark slightly. I found the first half of the film quite boring to be honest but it definitely picked up towards the middle, got a little ridiculous near the end then tried to do a sympathy ending. It half worked. I give this film 3 STARS OUT OF 5.
Peace out.
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