Friday, January 29, 2010

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus (Bob says 2 out of 4)

1. Did I enjoy it? SOME OF IT
There are some directors that are so gifted, so talented with their imaginations, that they end up alienating the audience rather than taking them for a ride. David Lynch got too excessive with his Inland Empire and Terry Gilliam does it here. Not that the visuals are not a marvel to look at. They certainly are and I would recommend interested viewers see it just for that. The problem is that I often had no idea what was going on and not following stories for lengths of time frustrates me. One problem that could not be undone was the death of Heath Ledger. Instead of scrapping the film, Gilliam decided to replace Ledger with Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell whenever the character steps through the other worldly Imaginarium mirror. Okay, it's another world, but there is no explanation why Ledger's Tony looks so different when he steps into this universe. He just does. Christopher Plummer has one of the most unique roles I've ever seen him play as the title character, who is competing with a devilish character named Mr. Nick for people's souls. What a strange film.

2. Would I watch it again? MAYBE
I've got to say I give Terry Gilliam props for originality. He just cannot expect to gain a wide audience if he insists on visual excess over a story people can follow. Perhaps he just doesn't care.

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