Keep your head up baby
The other day Ty and I braved post-Christmas malls and cinemas to check out the Terry Gilliam flick " The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus".I first heard about it when Heath Ledger died, and they mentioned the title of the movie he had been working on, I thought
"oh, that sounds interesting"
and then a few months back when I saw the trailer I thought "that looks completely weird and retarded... I have to see it!". I've always been a sucker for outlandish costumes and ridiculous storylines and effects, and there were all of those to be found here.
Combined with the fact that I wanted to see how Gilliam would manage to work around Ledger's death and incorporate Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell into the same role, " Brazil" (another Gilliam classic) happens to be one of my favorite movies ever so I was looking forward to seeing more of his work, and I can say that, as with Brazil, I wasn't disappointed.
That being said, the movie did drag a little in certain places and especially in the beginning before Ledger's character was introduced; I'm not sure if Gilliam was attempting to flesh out the story, but it felt unnecessary and dragged-on occasionally.
The plot covers various deals Dr. Parnassus made with the Devil, Mr. Nick (who is fabulously played by Tom Waits), and the bet struck up between them in order to prevent the doctor from handing over his daugter to fullfill a previous agreement.
However, this fact is easily overlooked by Ledger's outstanding last performance and in particular how Depp, Farrell and Law managed to pick up on his character and do accurate and interesting interpretations of him. How they were all worked into the film made sense and actually added to the story rather than detracting from it, and the visual inventiveness is unique and interesting. While I wouldn't say it's my favorite movie ever I can definitely say with confidence that the entire thing feels exactly like a Gilliam movie should: a visual overload and complete flight of fantasy. That it was credited to "Heath Ledger and friends" definitely tugged at my heartstrings a bit, and though I wasn't sure how I felt about it right away (as has been the case with every Gilliam movie I've seen) I can definitely recommend it, if only to witness Ledger's last performance.
