Showtimes & Tickets Enter Zip Code:

TIDELAND
Directed by: Terry Gilliam.
Produced by: Gabriella Martinelli & Jeremy Thomas.
Written by: Tony Grisoni & Gilliam, based on the novel by Mitch Cullin.
Director of Photography: Nicola Pecorini.
Edited by: Lesley Walker.
Music by: Jeff & Mychael Danna.
Released by: THINKFilm.
Country of Origin: Canada/UK. 122 min. Rated: R.
With: Jodelle Ferland, Janet McTeer, Brendan Fletcher, Jeff Bridges & Jennifer Tilly.

I’m starting to give up on Terry Gilliam. And I’ll tell you why: I never loved Brazil. Yes, its visuals were original and often breathtaking, but it didn’t have much plot. Neither did The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The Brothers Grimm, or Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. And whether he’s working with other screenwriters or his own material, the focus is often so far away from the story that I’ve felt like Alice trying to make sense of Wonderland in each of his increasingly listless films. (I use that metaphor because it banged in my head so many times while watching Tideland that I still haven’t been able to shake it off.)

Jeliza-Rose (Jodelle Ferland) is the child of heroin junkie Noah (Jeff Bridges) and methadone ex-junkie Queen Gunhilda (Jennifer Tilly), so the girl doesn’t have a lot of adult supervision. As a result, she has a wildly imaginative personality that she uses to the fullest in her otherwise monotonous life. When both of her parents overdose in the beginning of the film, she is once again left to her own devices and forced to entertain herself by imagining her dolls can talk, pirates enslave submarine captains, and ghosts and bog-creatures stalk her. We, on the other hand, are forced to entertain ourselves with her momentary fantasies, which are not as exciting for us as they are for her.

There’s a difference between a plot and a plot device; the latter cannot be stretched out for two hours and engage anyone other than lingering Godard fans. That isn’t to say that this isn’t yet another imaginative Gilliam Wonderland (I’m telling you, there were more allusions to Lewis Carroll than is healthy for any one person to sit through). His trademark depiction of reality is as engrossing as ever, but that doesn’t sustain the entire film.

The intense focus on Ferland’s Jeliza-Rose is a complete about-face from The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Gilliam’s legendary over-budget film where fantasies were fulfilled in elaborate feats of set design. For the most part, the camera observes such fancies as an adult would see them; we see Jeliza-Rose play make-believe more often than we see her fantasies play out onscreen. The desire to see her world through her eyes as if we, too, were children is something that perhaps could have driven the viewer’s interest. But no matter how lively and convincing Ferland is as an actress, it’s hard going watching a child play with dolls for 122 minutes. And that’s pretty much all that happens here. Zachary Jones
October 12, 2006