THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASUSS
Directed by Terry Gilliam
Produced by William Vince, Amy Gilliam, Samuel Hadida & Terry Gilliam
Written by Gilliam & Charles McKeown
Released by Sony Pictures Classics
UK/Canada/France. 122 min. Rated PG-13
With Christopher Plummer, Tom Waits, Heath Ledger, Andrew Garfield, Lily Cole, Verne Troyer, Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell & Jude Law
 

Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) has been leading his traveling show, the Imaginarium, for some time. Perhaps for quite a long time as he’s been alive for centuries, thanks to Mr. Nick (Tom Waits), a sinister fellow in a bowler hat who made a bet with Parnassus. In return for giving Parnassus an immortal soul, Mr. Nick would own Parnassus’s daughter, Valentina, on her 16^th birthday. It’s soon coming up to that day, and Nick’s come around to collect his debt.

That, as simply as I can or would want to, describes the premise of the new film from Terry Gilliam. He’s not a director for whom one wants to easily sum up the plot, and this is certainly no exception. A Gilliam film is really about the world the director creates, what the madman-genius behind Brazil and Twelve Monkeys will have in store for an audience dulled by inferior works of fantasy or illusions of grandeur. You almost get the sense when watching his films, even if they’re flawed, that he’s reaching for the audience to participate, to go with him one step further into another place or time or consciousness. At its purest and best, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus brings us into Gilliam’s head, full of absurdity and delight and terrors.

Indeed, one is tempted to read much of the character Parnassus, a dreamer who wants to bring an audience into his private universe, as a template for Gilliam. Yet one of the joys here is seeing Gilliam reflected throughout the work, his first wholly original screenplay in over 20 years (co-written by Brazil/The Adventures of Baron Munchausen writer Charles McKeown). There’s some of him in the young, good-hearted Imaginarium troupe member Anton (Andrew Garfield), in the cynical little guy Percy (Verne Troyer), even some in Tony (Ledger), the con man who is first discovered hanging from a bridge and who breathes new life (and brings new customers) into the Imaginarium.

The director strikes a balance between stark and grungy reality on present-day London streets, and between the delirious and super-flamboyant sights and sounds on the other side of Parnassus’s mirror, which provides a world for anyone looking to see their dreams made real. Some of the effects, sad to say, aren’t always the most convincing. Half of the CGI work in the dream world is fine and flashy, but the other half looks like unused clips from a cheesy made-for-Syfy channel movie, such as a silly python with the head of Waits, but there is so much to take in, and a lot of it is so crazy and colorful that it’s like peering into an environment that can crumble (and does) in an instant.

The story and cast are also a curious and awesome sight to see, a superb ensemble of legends, stars, newcomers, and character actors. And while Plummer and Waits have serious fun in their supernatural personas, and young model Lily Cole surprises with her tender and fiery performance as Valentina, the end of the movie says “to the Heath Ledger Players” for a reason. For all of the (earned) hoopla over The Dark Knight’s Joker, Ledger’s swan song is something really wonderful and one of his triumphs.

Which comes to the question: Does it feel complete without Ledger’s full performance? (He died midway through production). As it turns out, thanks to some clever rewriting and help from Gilliam/Ledger pals Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell (all of whom took over the role of Tony), the film’s so good that it’s hard to see it working out any other way. If anything, the three stars support, never detract, from Ledger. It is, please forgive, real imagination on Gilliam’s part to save his production through an imaginative twist. Jack Gattanella
December 28, 2009