References to Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" abound in Terry Gilliam's "Tideland," which in turn is based on a book of the same title that is explicitly Carrollian. Another movie along these lines is the animated "Coraline" (2009). That one, however, was specifically reflexive of its own animated filmmaking, with a doll world inside the animated one, as crafted by the surrogate animator's hand within. "Tideland" features the book-within-the-book of "Alice in Wonderland," but that's a literary holdover. Both pictures, however, focus on eyes and the act of seeing, which supports each of their respective visual peculiarities. "Tideland" includes dolls, too, or at least the decapitated heads of them--as though the Queen of Heart's orders had finally been carried out--one of which is missing eyes. There's also the all-seeing eye of the fairy-tale witch figure, Dell (Janet McTeer). Apparently, "Tideland" received negative reviews at the time of its release by critics who seemed mostly to be disgusted by the subject matter. In my search for films related to Carroll's Alice books, however, I appreciate how "Tideland" is similarly from the perspective of a child coping with the adult world, although Carroll's texts are more abstract and complicated than that, whereas "Tideland" is firmly set in the play made out of the real world by a little girl, Jeliza-Rose. I prefer this to Gilliam's prior adulteration of both his Monty Python roots and Carroll's nonsense poem, "Jabberwocky" (1977), at least.
In "Tideland," there are multiple rabbit holes of sorts, including the one the chattering squirrel initially leads Jeliza-Rose through and followed by literal rabbit holes and imagined ones full of the kind of syringes her parents (played by Jeff Bridges and Jennifer Tilly as something of caricatures of past characters they've played ("The Dude" being one, obviously) employed for their drug addictions and which Jeliza-Rose helped prepare for them. Furthering the fairy-tale connection, too, fireflies are taken as fairies. Additionally, while Jeliza-Rose intermittently recites passages from Carroll's book, Dell's first speech to the child largely quotes the March Hare and Hatter from the Mad Tea Party. Dell's mentally-impaired brother, Dickens also befriends Jeliza-Rose and shares in her play of making fantasy out of reality, as well as making for disquieting moments when the two begin playing house as husband and wife, and one wonders how far it will go, or likewise when they play with shotgun shells and dynamite. Dell, too, is a potentially frightening figure, as she practices taxidermy on animals both human and otherwise--leading some to describes "Tideland" as "Alice in Wonderland" meets "Psycho" (1960).
"Tideland" may be meandering in its plot, and Gilliam's shaky, flowing and frequently canted camera seems to have become the filmmaker's go-to for all scenarios involving drugs, fantasy and the mentally unhinged (see "12 Monkeys" (1995) or "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" (1998), too, for instance), but a cast led by the young Jodelle Ferland keeps it fairly engaging. Whether some critics became nauseous from the camerawork and grotesque production design or from the troubling subject matter, I'm rather surprised the picture was widely panned as disgusting. I've certainly seen far more distressing fare. Take a page from Jeliza-Rose and learn to cope with it, for "Tideland," while perhaps not profound, is an interesting take down the rabbit hole of Carrollian fairy tales.
In "Tideland," there are multiple rabbit holes of sorts, including the one the chattering squirrel initially leads Jeliza-Rose through and followed by literal rabbit holes and imagined ones full of the kind of syringes her parents (played by Jeff Bridges and Jennifer Tilly as something of caricatures of past characters they've played ("The Dude" being one, obviously) employed for their drug addictions and which Jeliza-Rose helped prepare for them. Furthering the fairy-tale connection, too, fireflies are taken as fairies. Additionally, while Jeliza-Rose intermittently recites passages from Carroll's book, Dell's first speech to the child largely quotes the March Hare and Hatter from the Mad Tea Party. Dell's mentally-impaired brother, Dickens also befriends Jeliza-Rose and shares in her play of making fantasy out of reality, as well as making for disquieting moments when the two begin playing house as husband and wife, and one wonders how far it will go, or likewise when they play with shotgun shells and dynamite. Dell, too, is a potentially frightening figure, as she practices taxidermy on animals both human and otherwise--leading some to describes "Tideland" as "Alice in Wonderland" meets "Psycho" (1960).
"Tideland" may be meandering in its plot, and Gilliam's shaky, flowing and frequently canted camera seems to have become the filmmaker's go-to for all scenarios involving drugs, fantasy and the mentally unhinged (see "12 Monkeys" (1995) or "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" (1998), too, for instance), but a cast led by the young Jodelle Ferland keeps it fairly engaging. Whether some critics became nauseous from the camerawork and grotesque production design or from the troubling subject matter, I'm rather surprised the picture was widely panned as disgusting. I've certainly seen far more distressing fare. Take a page from Jeliza-Rose and learn to cope with it, for "Tideland," while perhaps not profound, is an interesting take down the rabbit hole of Carrollian fairy tales.