Jan 14, 2010
Jan 11, 2010
Severed Thumbs: The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
It's been a while since I've done one of these. That doesn't mean I haven't watched any good movies lately, I just haven't felt like writing about them. This movie on the other hand I've received requests to review it (okay, so just one) so here we go; this is The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus.
So, what happens when you combine Terry Gilliam's imagery(Brazil, Time Bandits, 12 Monkeys, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, etc.), Heath Ledger's last performance, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Ferrel doing their best Heath Ledger impersonations, a decent story and top it off with Tom Waits playing the devil? Well sheer wonderment of course...unless you're a damned Nazi. The movie has been completed for well over a year now but it didn't see even a limited release in the States until this past Christmas. We start off with the immortal Dr. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer), a mystic who runs a sideshow with his 16 year old daughter Valentina (Lily Cole), a former street rat named Anton (Andrew Garfield), and everyone's favorite go to dwarf, Verne Troyer. Through a series of bets with the Devil, called Mr. Nick (Tom Waits) Dr. Parnassus is in a contest to see who can get the most souls via a magical mirror that transports people into the good Doctor's mind where their wildest fantasies (or nightmares) are shown. In this fantastical world the contestants are shown two choices that either lead toward enlightenment or carnal desires. Enlightened souls go to the Doctor, carnal bastards go to Mr. Nick. Eventually it comes down to one last bet, the winner gets The Doctor's daughter, first to five souls in two days wins. In the mean time they run across Tony (Heath Ledger) whom they rescue from certain death. Tony is a suave, charming, young business type who knows how to persuade people (especially women.) Through a series of events Tony falls in love with Valentina, learns about the wager, and has some ideas to help out. He almost succeeds but some surprises from his past catch up and complicate matters; what follows is both heart warming and twisted in the usual Gilliam manner.
This movie is one of the best I've seen in the last couple years and though I wouldn't rank it up with Pan's Labyrinth (see Creatively Stumped episode 3 part 2) It's still really up there especially since Gilliam's last two releases (Tideland and Brother's Grimm) have been less than spectacular. My favorite aspect is how they managed to finish it up without Heath (for example of how not to do it, see a movie that had similar problems with main actors dying, 1994's The Crow.) The transitions between Heath and the other three actors who played Tony were seamless, which also brought more depth to the character because to me it seemed each actor represented another aspect of Tony's personality with Heath being the whole, now THAT'S clever screen writing. The rest of the casting was spot on especially Tom Waits' portrayal of Mr. Nick not as a terrible person but more of a business man and gambler, which is precisely how I always thought of the devil. Is this my favorite Gilliam Film? It comes close, but it's hard to beat Brazil. It is up there though with the rest of the movies that have really had an effect on me. That's why I give Dr. Parnassus 6 out of 6 severed thumbs.
So, what happens when you combine Terry Gilliam's imagery(Brazil, Time Bandits, 12 Monkeys, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, etc.), Heath Ledger's last performance, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Ferrel doing their best Heath Ledger impersonations, a decent story and top it off with Tom Waits playing the devil? Well sheer wonderment of course...unless you're a damned Nazi. The movie has been completed for well over a year now but it didn't see even a limited release in the States until this past Christmas. We start off with the immortal Dr. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer), a mystic who runs a sideshow with his 16 year old daughter Valentina (Lily Cole), a former street rat named Anton (Andrew Garfield), and everyone's favorite go to dwarf, Verne Troyer. Through a series of bets with the Devil, called Mr. Nick (Tom Waits) Dr. Parnassus is in a contest to see who can get the most souls via a magical mirror that transports people into the good Doctor's mind where their wildest fantasies (or nightmares) are shown. In this fantastical world the contestants are shown two choices that either lead toward enlightenment or carnal desires. Enlightened souls go to the Doctor, carnal bastards go to Mr. Nick. Eventually it comes down to one last bet, the winner gets The Doctor's daughter, first to five souls in two days wins. In the mean time they run across Tony (Heath Ledger) whom they rescue from certain death. Tony is a suave, charming, young business type who knows how to persuade people (especially women.) Through a series of events Tony falls in love with Valentina, learns about the wager, and has some ideas to help out. He almost succeeds but some surprises from his past catch up and complicate matters; what follows is both heart warming and twisted in the usual Gilliam manner.
This movie is one of the best I've seen in the last couple years and though I wouldn't rank it up with Pan's Labyrinth (see Creatively Stumped episode 3 part 2) It's still really up there especially since Gilliam's last two releases (Tideland and Brother's Grimm) have been less than spectacular. My favorite aspect is how they managed to finish it up without Heath (for example of how not to do it, see a movie that had similar problems with main actors dying, 1994's The Crow.) The transitions between Heath and the other three actors who played Tony were seamless, which also brought more depth to the character because to me it seemed each actor represented another aspect of Tony's personality with Heath being the whole, now THAT'S clever screen writing. The rest of the casting was spot on especially Tom Waits' portrayal of Mr. Nick not as a terrible person but more of a business man and gambler, which is precisely how I always thought of the devil. Is this my favorite Gilliam Film? It comes close, but it's hard to beat Brazil. It is up there though with the rest of the movies that have really had an effect on me. That's why I give Dr. Parnassus 6 out of 6 severed thumbs.
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