Andrew McMurtryREVIEW: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” is so close to being a great film. Don’t get me wrong, it is good. It just misses the mark on a few scenes. Another thing is that you need to get into the movie early on or it is hard to watch later on. I’ve seen it twice and the second time was harder to sit through. If you get into it, the movie is quite enjoyable and is visually stunning. The script is solid, cast is great, everything is pretty good. The only thing is that it looks like the writers ran out of ideas as to how to segue to the end of the film. A slightly strange scene (which is hard to define in an already strange movie) takes some of the impact of the ending off, but that is all it takes. It seems like a two hour acid trip at some times.
The story begins in modern London, a grim view of the modern squalor of homelessness and alcohol fuelled stupidity. This eventually leads to an introduction of what the imaginarium is and what it can do. I don’t want to ruin anything in the movie but all who enter must make a choice. This choice turns out to be between life on earth, and selling your soul and life to the devil/Mr Nick (played wonderfully by Tom Waits). When the travelling show comes across Tony (Heath Ledger) for the first time in less than happy circumstances, he is confused and has no recollection of who he is or what he had done or anything. He has his natural charm and falls in well with the 16 year old Valentina (Lily Cole), the daughter of Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer), who placed wagers with the devil/Mr Nick. Doctor Parnassus is immortal after an earlier bet with the devil but after hundreds of years of life, he realises the stupidity of this bet. Tony’s relationship with Valentina pisses of the other actor in the show, Anton (Andrew Garfield), who is in love Valentina and begins a jealous rivalry with Tony. In the end, Tony doesn’t turn out to be the person they thought he was in the beginning.
The unfortunate circumstances surrounding this film meant that Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell had to fill in some of Heath Ledger’s scenes. Ledger plays Tony, a charismatic, ambitious man, who is saved by the travelling Imaginarium. The other three actors are his three personalities. Depp is the smooth talker, Law is the ambitious opportunist, and Farrell is the politician. It works well to switch between these actors, as they become the three faces that make up Heath Ledger’s Tony. I’ve read that some people think this makes Ledgers performance seem like only half a performance but I think the other actors add depth to the story. And a good performance it is.
“The Imaginarium” uses a dark and dirty view of London, preferring to film the darker hovels of the city, possibly to show the ugliness of the city and the people within it. The sets are interesting as well. The heavy use of CGI in the imaginarium is beautiful though. There are also great transitions from good thoughts to the bad thoughts. The only thing is the plot is let down with the overuse of visual effect. I’m still waiting for a movie that has great CGI, great plot and great script. District 9 is probably the best one I’ve seen so far. And the ending is weak and disappointing. It’s good the first half is so captivating.
This film is good but it really depends on the person who is watching it. I found it good and interesting up until the last half hour, where it became really confusing and strange. Others have told me they didn’t particularly like the film so it’s really a film that is comes down to the eye of the beholder. Heath Ledger is very good and the other three Tonys are good as well but it just gets confusing and hard to watch towards the end. Very interesting though and the first time you watch it the visual journey is good enough, but after that, when the surprise and wonder is gone, it loses some lustre off the shiny CGI package. It probably didn't live up 100% to Terry Gilliam's vision. I’ll give it 3 out of 5. Could’ve been better.
