One of Terry Gilliam's better films. Christopher Plummer, Tom Waits, and Lily Cole give stand-out performances. It's Heath Ledger's last film. He died during the film's production, and thanks to some inventive storytelling Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrel capably filled in to complete the film. While this may cause some film goers difficulty I found it rather simple to suspend disbelief as their appearance only occurs during those moments when the character resides within the Imaginarium.
Gilliam is clearly fascinated by the act and art of story-telling, a theme he has addressed in nearly all of his films from "Time Bandits", through "The Brothers Grimm." Here that act is essential for life itself and the Universe as a whole to continue. The film moves fluidly back and forth from a grim but real world and the fantastical world of dreams.
Christopher Plummer uses every trick he's learned over his very long and distinguished career to present a very complicated and difficult to completely pin down exactly who Dr. Parnassus might be. Surely we are presented some very clear possibilities, but with the number of layers Gilliam uses as the over-arching story progresses it would be very difficult to assume any one is definitive, and that is not at all easy for an actor to successfully achieve. Plummer shows us a loving parent, a drunken fool, a wise man of letters, a charlatan grifting for souls, a mystical priest/prophet, a homeless, penny-less bum. Opposite him is Tom Waits' creepy and devilish Mr. Nick. Once again showing us that this musician song-writer has some acting prowess that deserves to be used and seen more often.
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus is a film (or story) about choices. Ones we make, ones' we wish we'd make, and knowing right from wrong. It's not clearly black and white as I just made it sound, and the film ends cryptically enough that we know the story continues. Dr. Parnassus made a bargain many moons ago with an unsavory character, and must make amends, that's the film we see before us from Gilliam, and like Shakespeare he reminds us that the world is a stage and we are but actors rounded with a little sleep wherein we dream.
Gilliam is clearly fascinated by the act and art of story-telling, a theme he has addressed in nearly all of his films from "Time Bandits", through "The Brothers Grimm." Here that act is essential for life itself and the Universe as a whole to continue. The film moves fluidly back and forth from a grim but real world and the fantastical world of dreams.
Christopher Plummer uses every trick he's learned over his very long and distinguished career to present a very complicated and difficult to completely pin down exactly who Dr. Parnassus might be. Surely we are presented some very clear possibilities, but with the number of layers Gilliam uses as the over-arching story progresses it would be very difficult to assume any one is definitive, and that is not at all easy for an actor to successfully achieve. Plummer shows us a loving parent, a drunken fool, a wise man of letters, a charlatan grifting for souls, a mystical priest/prophet, a homeless, penny-less bum. Opposite him is Tom Waits' creepy and devilish Mr. Nick. Once again showing us that this musician song-writer has some acting prowess that deserves to be used and seen more often.
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus is a film (or story) about choices. Ones we make, ones' we wish we'd make, and knowing right from wrong. It's not clearly black and white as I just made it sound, and the film ends cryptically enough that we know the story continues. Dr. Parnassus made a bargain many moons ago with an unsavory character, and must make amends, that's the film we see before us from Gilliam, and like Shakespeare he reminds us that the world is a stage and we are but actors rounded with a little sleep wherein we dream.