Film Reviews: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

This is a film I love for many reasons.   Firstly because it's so unusual.   It's like nothing I've ever seen before.  It's about a man (Doctor Parnassus) who is a thousand years old and immortal.   He travels around with a rag-tag bunch of companions in their caravan/travelling show.   He's made a bet with the devil.   He needs to win souls by his daughter's 16th birthday, or she'll belong to the devil.   He has to get people to step through a magic mirror powered by his trance.   Once inside people are brought face to face with their own imaginations.   They then have to make a choice.   The problem is poeple always seem to make the wrong choice and give their souls to the devil instead.   Until they rescue a mysterious stranger who they find hanging under a bridge.  He turns their fortunes around and helps them to win the bet.  

The second reason I love it is the casting.   It's got so many of my heros in it!   As well as the wonderful Heath Ledger and ever-fabulous Johnny Depp, it also features Paloma Faith and the great Tom Waits.   Who knew they could act??   Tom Waits is a fabulous devil.   Lily Cole puts in a great performance as the doctor's daughter,Verne Troyer (of the Mini Me fame) is excellent, as is Christopher Plummer as Parnassus himself.   As Heath Ledger's last film I also feel a big emotional connection with it.   He died half way through filming.   Instead of giving up, Terry Gilliam (the director) got in three other actors to replace him.   Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell.   All three of them were great pals of Heath's and wanted to help.   They came up with the genius idea of giving Heath a different face every time he entered the Imaginarium.   The rejigged the story so that they didn't need to get many more shots, and for those they still needed they put an actor in a mask so you couldn't tell it wasn't Heath.   The whole thing is very neatly done and if you didn't know the story you'd never think one of the leads had died half way through filming.   I think it's a beautiful tribute to him.   He was wonderful.  

Finally I love it because of the director.   Even if Terry Gilliam wasn't a brilliant director he'd still be one of my heros because of his Monty Python connection.   I always loved his hilarious, wacky animations in the show, as well as his performances.   They were so imaginative!   Well, that amazing Gilliam imagination is well and truly on show in this, both inside the imaginarium and out.   Look at this!   Look at it!   Look!

I just love it.   It's such a refreshing break from all the comic book films, sci-fi prequels and remakes.   I'd love to know what it looks like inside his head.   Well worth a watch if you want something strange and beautiful.

Films!

Just thought I'd write a quick review of some of the films I've been watching.   Firstly, Planet of the Apes.  The original one.   Just another one of those films that I really should have seen, but never quite got round to watching.   So I thought it was about time I filled the gap in my education.   And I have to say I really enjoyed it.   It was very compelling.   I'm not quite sure why, but the style reminded quite a lot of 2001 Space Odyssey.   Of course, I knew the story already, it being rather a famous film, so the twist at the end came as no surpirse.   I imagine to a naive audience it would have been gripping stuff.   I enjoyed the harsh landscapes and Charlton Heston's cynical, world-weary performance.   And all the topless men, of course.   Although it has mostly aged very well, with the make-up and special effects still being pretty impressive, there are bits of it that are pretty dated.   The attitude to the women in the film is a prime example.   At one point one of the apes remarks: I didn't know man could be monogamous.   Charlton Heston casually replies: On this planet, it's easy.    Good old-fashioned casual sexism!

     



Next up, Kill Bill, Volumes 1 and 2.   Not being a Tarantino fan, I didn't really expect to enjoy these.   Just another gap in my education to be filled.   But I have to say, they were great!   Unusual and interesting.   The storyline wasn't really that original, being a fairly typical tale of revenge, but the way it was done made these pretty unique films!   There is probably an awful lot that can be said about the filmography by clever people who know about that sort of thing.   There's the way the heroine's name is beeped out right up until the end, and the random switches into black and white at certain points, the lady with the eye patch, the bright yellow outfit, the way a lot of the important conversations in the film are in Japanese with no subtitles so that we don't understand what's going on, the very unrealistic and old fashioned way of showing bleeding, and the unrealistic portrayal of Japan as being all sushi and katanas and kimonos and getta...   I have to say that I don't really understand the reasons behind most of those things, but i loved it all the same!   It interested me.   Being a Tarantino film there was obviously a lot of gratuitous gore and blood, but somehow it wasn't as offensive as I usually find it.   No picking bits of skull off the backseat of a car in this.   I very much enjoyed the soundtrack as well, and the performances.   I especially liked David Carradine as Bill.   The other little touch that I liked was how these hard, deadly women could instantly be tamed by the appearance of a child.   I'd like to believe that's the truth.

 

And Finally, A Nightmare on Elm Street.   Not really a fan of this, but I can definitely understand why it's so famous.   It doesn't hold back, and it's pretty damn scary for a horror film of its age.   There's some pretty iconic imagery in it, like Freddy Krueger's red and green jumper and metal claws.   I can see why these memorable images turned the film into a franchise.     I did enjoy the way the boundary between dreams and reality were blurred and I would have liked to see a little bit more of this to be honest.   I also enjoyed watching an early performance of Johnny Depp's as well.   It's always interesting to go back and watch really big stars when they were just starting out.