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The thing when it comes to Terry Gilliam films is that his films are so far off the beaten path that it takes awhile to get used to while watching his films. But once you get used to his world and get onto the rhythm of his films you are usually in for a treat. The man’s imagination is so vivid that you are guaranteed to see things you have never seen before.

This film I wanted to love but ended up liking the ingredients were there Gilliam writing with Charles McKeon who he co-wrote THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUCHAUSEN with. They create a vivid original world and characters but in many ways it feels like it falls short.

The story is Doctor parnisuss made a deal with the devil that for immortality and the hand of the woman he loved the devil could have his daughter when she turned 18. They have a on going game. That involves a magical mirror. A mirror where people go into a fantasy world and can choose ether light or the darkness if they go to the darkness the devil gets their soul if they go into the light they are given a euphoric joy that gives them delight and there fantasy come to life. He tries to find a way out of it but when the devil comes to collect he makes another deal the first who can get 5 souls wins. Which would be a tragedy if not for saving Tony a mysterious rogue they find hanging off a bridge they save his life and tony repays them by coming up with a way to save their business which is a traveling circus, Side show with the magical mirror.

This is Heath Ledger’s last film. He unfortunately died before the film was finished and his role is played in different scenes by Colin Farell, Johnny Depp and Jude law which in it’s own way works as they all play fantasy versions of hi character and it feels seemless. I always felt Heath ledger had the talent for bigger and better things and luckily he never had mainstream tastes when it came to roles he was always attracted to the more abstract roles which I felt would lead him to be the next Johnny Depp as early in his career he also was more in artistic films then later in his career finally choose more mainstream roles.

The casting of this film is good Verne Troyer plays a good role not as comedic as usual. Christopher Plummer is a hoot as Doctor Parnisuss he is clearly having fun. Tom Waits as the devil is always a joy to watch with his original looks and charisma.

Now I prefer old school special effects and would like them to be used more, but though this film has tons of CGI it works for the story as it enhances the film and is useful more then anything else to help tell the tale in vivid detail.

Now while I liked the film I never became invested in the film and felt like I was always kept at a distance from the characters and story. But I must give Gilliam credit as to how good the film is considering the tragedy that happened halfway through filming. I only wish he could get the budgets and more luck when it comes to the making of his films it seems he always has to struggle to get his dream projects made then has to compromise or settle on films that while they have his creative genius. They just aren’t the films he should be making. They seem a little too streamlined and commercial for his artistic tastes. He is one of the last auteurs we have. He is a director who in the 70’s would have had people lining up around the corner to see his latest works because they would be guaranteed to see something original. Now he has a hard time Making films because his material is too original.

The film has it’s own beauty and is interesting to watch, unfortunately it doesn’t last on the mind s much as past works of his have.

A Satisfying Rental

This film borders on the utterly horrible. There is a story here to be told, but it should be told by a much more skilled director. The set up of the plot is mismanaged, the scenes are rushed and not allowed to develop, and the camera work is very poor. On top of that, the casting is questionable, the fantasy elements are paper thin, and the computer graphics are overused.

All of these issues lay at the feet of the director. I cannot in good conscience recommend this film to anyone, and that I have wasted my time on it is bad enough.

Busier and maybe dumber than it should be, it is charmingly shambolic on the occasions that it’s not annoyingly half-assed, and it can’t help but be more than slightly poignant on several occasions. Gilliam has more bright ideas than he knows what do with, which is the movie’s limitation and its chief virtue. I’m never a CGI partisan, but here particularly the glossy, glassy high contrast neatness of the computer graphics wears away the rough edges that are usually so much part of the charm of Gilliam’s best work. I do love the nasty, hyperbolic dig at posh celebrity philanthropy. I think I tolerate Gilliam’s faults because the scope of his paranoia is so consonant with my own. Such is the root of many human affections.

Kematian aktor Heath Ledger yang secara tiba-tiba ternyata masih menyimpan satu permasalahan ketika ia ternyata belum sempat menyelesaikan proses pengambilan gambar untuk film yang disutradarai oleh Terry Gilliam, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Karena hal tersebut pulalah, proses pembuatan film ini sempat terhenti pada Januari 2008, dan sempat dianggap mati oleh Gilliam mengingat peran Ledger yang sangat vital di dalam naskah cerita film ini.

Beruntung, hal ini ternyata tidak berlangsung lama. Gilliam pertama-tama memiliki ide untuk menggunakan teknologi komputer untuk mengisi peran Ledger yang masih belum sempat difilmkan. Namun, atas saran beberapa orang, akhirnya Gilliam memilih untuk melakukan perubahan di beberapa bagian naskah film agar dapat memasukkan beberapa wajah baru untuk menggantikan posisi Ledger.

Disinilah tiga aktor papan atas Hollywood, yang juga sahabat Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, Jude Law dan Colin Farrell, akhirnya turut serta mengisi peran yang seharusnya dimainkan Ledger di beberapa bagian film. Proses pembuatan The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus akhirnya dapat kembali dimulai pada bulan Maret 2008.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus sendiri berkisah mengenai Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer), seorang mantan biarawan yang kini menjelma menjadi seorang pengelola rombongan sirkus keliling bersama puterinya, Valentina (Lily Cole), salah seorang pekerjanya, Anton (Andrew Garfield) serta kurcaci kepercayaannya, Percy (Verne Troyer).

Ketika masih bertugas sebagai seorang biarawan, Parnassus dan biarawan lainnya bertugas untuk menceritakan berbagai kisah di kuil mereka, hal yang mereka anggap dapat mempertahankan eksistensi Bumi. Hal ini terjadi hingga Parnassus bertemu dengan Mr Nick (Tom Waits), seorang jelmaan setan, yang menggoda Parnassus dan mengatakan bahwa semua cerita yang diceritakannya adalah sebuah hal yang sia-sia. Parnassus dan Mr Nick akhirnya membuat suatu taruhan untuk mengumpulkan jiwa manusia untuk memilih apakah lebih menyukai cerita Parnassus atau nafsu dan kenikmatan yang ditawarkan Mr Nick. Parnassus memenangkan pertaruhan ini dan memenangkan sebuah keabadian hidup.

Merasa di atas angin, dan melihat tubuhnya yang semakin menua, Parnassus akhirnya meminta taruhan sekali lagi dengan Mr Nick. Kali ini, ia meminta agar Mr Nick memberikannya kemudaan agar ia dapat mengejar wanita yang ia cintai. Sebagai gantinya, Mr Nick memberikan syarat bahwa setiap anak yang ia lahirkan nantinya, ketika berusia 16 tahun akan diberikan kepadanya.

Kini hampir 16 tahun berlalu, dan beberapa hari menjelang perayaan ulang tahun ke-16 Valentina. Tentu saja, Parnassus menjadi sangat gundah karena ia sangat mencintai Valentina. Ia akhirnya menemui Mr Nick lagi dan memohon agar ia tidak mengambil Valentina. Mr Nick setuju, namun dengan melakukan sebuah taruhan: siapapun diantara mereka yang berhasil mengumpulkan lima jiwa manusia sebelum hari ulang tahun Valentina, berhak memiliki Valentina.

Di tengah perjalanan grup sirkus kelilingnya, yang sekaligus berguna untuk mengumpulkan jiwa-jiwa para manusia, kelompok Parnassus bertemu dengan Tony (Heath Ledger – namun akan dimainkan secara bergantian oleh Johnny Depp, Jude Law dan Colin Farrell ketika tokoh Tony berada di alam khayalan), seorang pria yang mengaku hilang ingatan. Walaupun Andre dengan jelas menunjukkan ketidaksukaannya, namun akhirnya Tony diikutkan dalam rombongan, bahkan berhasil memenangkan beberapa jiwa untuk Parnassus. Namun, di balik itu semua, Tony ternyata menyimpan beberapa rahasia yang tidak diketahui oleh Parnassus dan Valentina, yang perlahan-lahan mulai jatuh cinta padanya.

Penonton mungkin sedikit merasa asing dan beberapa kali tersesat ketika menyaksikan naskah cerita The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus yang dituliskan oleh Terry Gilliam bersama Charles McKeown ini. Dengan basis cerita bahwa apa yang terjadi di dalam cerita ini kebanyakan bersetting di wilayah ‘alam impian’ seakan membenarkan Gilliam untuk membawa para penontonnya ke berbagai tempat penuh imajinasi yang mungkin akan terasa sedikit tidak masuk akal. Sayangnya, cara Gilliam membawakan cerita ini juga mungkin terkesan sedikit kurang hati-hati, dimana beberapa kali film ini maju mundur ke satu arah tanpa memberikan penjelasan yang berarti mengapa jalan cerita tersebut disajikan dengan cara tersebut. Hasilnya, beberapa kali para penonton akan menemukan titik kebosanan pada beberapa bagian di film ini.

Berbeda dengan naskah cerita, ide menghadirkan alam khayalan justru berakibat sangat memuaskan pada visual yang ditampilkan oleh Gilliam. Lewat bantuan efek khusus dan permainan warna yang sangat mengesankan, Gilliam, untungnya, berhasil mewujudkan berbagai ‘fantasinya’ dengan sangat baik dan sangat indah. Efek khusus yang indah dan memuaskan tersebut juga dibantu oleh tata kostum yang seringkali, ketika sedang bersetting di alam impian, tampil sangat memukau.

Dari sisi pemeran, jajaran pemeran yang mengisi The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus dapat dikatakan memuaskan. Mulai dari Christopher Plummer yang tampil prima, Lily Cole yang tampil eksotis, serta Verne Troyer dan Andrew Garfield yang meski tidak mendapatkan porsi besar namun tetap mampu tampil baik. Dan tentu saja, empat sekawan pemeran tokoh Tony — Ledger, Depp, Law dan Farrell — yang mampu tampil seimbang, sehingga tokoh Tony benar-benar dapat dirasakan diperankan oleh satu orang dengan kemampuan akting yang sama memuaskannya.

Imajinatif, walau sedikit kurang terarah, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus adalah sebuah film yang, sama halnya dengan Avatar maupun Alice in Wonderland, sepertinya tidak perlu begitu mementingkan jalan cerita yang disediakan, namun lebih pada untuk menikmati berbagai penampilan visual yang indah yang telah dibuat oleh Terry Gilliam. Selain tata visual dan tata kostum yang sangat indah, jajaran pemeran film ini juga terbukti sangat baik dalam menghidupkan jalan cerita yang telah disediakan, yang membuat film ini tampil cukup memuaskan dalam menghibur para penontonnya.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Motivated by the tragic passing of Heath Ledger, Gilliam conducts the best ensemble of his career in his best feature by far since the The Fisher King. While no longer on the vanguard of set design execution, someone as talented as Gilliam is better suited to a hands-on approach to animation – computer generated effects show their seems when one doesn’t have the budget of something like Avatar. Despite this, Gilliam’s flair for imagination remains indisputable. By no means a stunt in casting, the ingenious involvement of Depp/Law and Farrell works to the films advantage as Gilliams & McKeown’s story plays out as a epic battle set against time and a universe of wonders. A modern classic to be sure.

You’re either with Terry Gilliam or you’re against him at this point. I, for one, love Monty Python and celebrate Gilliam’s catalog regularly, so for me Imaginarium was an entertaining and wholly original Gilliamesque story, if slightly confusing. See, the core story is rather simple. Parnassus is a man who believes in the power of storytelling, a power that to him could very well save the world. Mr. Nick, clearly Satan, thinks different, and the basic structure of the story revolves around the relationship between the two, and their nefarious gambling throughout the centuries. I was most impressed with Gilliam’s point to it all: the story of a man who loves telling stories in a world that no longer wants to hear them. The irony was almost too much to bear. Having said that, Gilliam really got lost in the details with this one. There was just too much going on to take it all in in one sitting, which is sometimes good as it calls for a film to be discused with others. But in the case of Imaginarium, there are just random snippits and pieces of scenes scattered about without a real strong thread to connect them all together in a clever way. I’m not saying the movie doesn’t work, it’s just a little tough to discern everything on a first watch, especially with so many unnecessary scenes. I was most impressed with how Gilliam managed to work Ledger’s absence into the story. It was clever and didn’t make the finished product feel rushed or incomplete, which I loved. Seeing Ledger in a post-Joker role gave me another level of respect for the man.Christopher Plummer mailed this one in if you ask me, giving a good performance but never truly inhabiting the character in my opinion. Plummer is a presence that adds credibility to any film he’s a part of, but in this one he felt a tad wooden and out of control of his character. All of Ledger’s surrogates do great work here, and the rest of the cast plays their parts well. Tom Waits as the devil incarnate was genius. This film commands your respect if you’ve ever worked on a film before, simply for the fact that Gilliam pulled it off. Despite his lead actor and producer dying during production, and himself getting hit by a car, Gilliam created a complete film. Sure, I may not have enjoyed it as much as I would have liked, but I respect Gilliam and the film greatly.

While it never once comes close to reaching the heights of Gilliam’s earlier, brilliant films (Brazil, 12 Monkeys, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), Dr. Parnassus is nonetheless a definite step up from garbage like Brothers Grimm and Tideland. The film really only ever comes alive whenever Heath Ledger is on screen (would that be considered irony?), but the sequence featuring Jude Law is something of a standout simply because it captures the anarchic spirit of a Monty Python skit. Overall, this film is a bit dull, drab, and unfocused, but it’s still charming enough to be considered an enjoyable mess.

I really liked it. Not for it’s mediocre performances. Not to see Heath Ledger’s last role. Not for it’s kind of cheesy CGI. I thought it was a sumptuous piece of eye candy, whose plot, while admittedly distracted, didn’t need to be front and center. Gilliam really captured the beauty of fantasy and dreams, and that was what it was really all about. It didn’t have to make sense because dreams aren’t supposed to make sense. I loved its romantic nostalgia and the fantastical representation of the theater that was also juxtaposed with the real world. It was jarring, visually appealing, and mesmerizing, despite its faults.

Director Terry Gilliam is one of the few people working in the industry today whose work I will go to no matter what I’ve heard telling me I shouldn’t. I’m not saying this because press for his new The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was lackluster; in fact, the acclaim on this one is glowing in comparison to his last two. It’s that a visionary such as Gilliam faces a lot of problems when looking towards a new project. Between financing, making the insane things he sees in his mind a reality, and finding an audience for his often times difficult visions, he has had his share of wars against the powers that be. Heck, even God decided his Don Quixote project wasn’t ready to be made, (yet, it is slated to be his next film, so fingers crossed). Parnassus, oddly enough, was coming along quite splendidly with its foreign financiers, (Americans still don’t see the benefit of creative genius unless it makes billions in return), until possibly the biggest tragedy to hit a Gilliam production occurred—the death of Heath Ledger.

After watching the final version, with the addition of Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell to fill out Ledger’s uncompleted sequences, it is sad to say that the film sorely missed him. Gilliam is back in form with his fantastical imagination and innovative use of props. Looking at the traveling theatre troupe, I couldn’t help thinking of 12 Monkeys and how inventive the auteur got in creating props from random materials. The costumes worn by these circus-folk are both elaborate and ragged, combining the character that age and history give something with the freshness that using a past aesthetic, rather than a future one, can bring. I won’t say that had Ledger lived the scenes through the mirror would have been more realistic—that other world created by the entrant’s mind—yet I can’t shake the feeling it might have. I don’t want to assume that Gilliam went overboard in the colors, over-saturating everything, or in the green screen work, which is not the best at all, to make the facial transformation seem plausible, because it wasn’t necessary. The story itself makes the multiple actors playing Tony work; the special effects actually undo it by showing the artifice and sadly removing me from the magic onscreen otherwise.

When we are watching Parnassus and his clan perform for drunks and miscreants, the visuals are absolutely wonderful. Juxtaposing the dark and rainy back alleys with the cheerful mystique of the stage is perfect. It delineates the two worlds from one another while also showing what it is Parnassus is escaping from. After making a deal with the Devil many, many centuries ago, he won his immortality. As the Devil is prone to do, however, the victory came with a price—eventually the audience he so cherished and hoped to bring joy to so that they could be better people and create a better world disappeared. Soon he was left alone with his trusty sidekick Percy, relegated to a street corner begging for scraps and change. Immortality is no picnic when your life’s work is invisible to those around you. He had won a reprieve from death, yet he had died so long ago in his own mind, until that is, he sees the beauty of a woman to reinvigorate him. In comes the Devil and another deal—the woman for their child on her sixteenth birthday. Of course, the film opens on the cusp of that auspicious day; Valentina is soon to become the Devil’s prize.

Gilliam’s true worth is shown through this conflict of faith, allowing the audience to see this broken man turn to cowardice and the bottle rather than fight for his daughter’s life. Only the introduction of Ledger’s Tony shakes him from his funk, re-opening the show to find five souls and save them from the Devil, winning back Valentina. There are no coincidences though; everything happens for a reason and his crossing paths with the troupe is no accident. The darkness hiding behind each character begins to reveal itself at this point, right when their mental fortitude is needed to be strongest. Tony is running from his past, yet it keeps catching up to him no matter how deep he throws himself into this new family; Parnassus’s secrets surface despite his better judgment, proving that the truth isn’t always the best medicine; Valentina’s dream of a normal contemporary life appears as close to happening than ever before, except that she is about to be taken by the Devil; and Anton, the MC for this theatre show, slowly watches as the woman he loves begins to fall for this new outsider, a man he knows is hiding something horrible.

Everyone is allowed a glimpse of their true desires when they enter the magical mirror at the center of the stage; a world facilitated by Christopher Plummer’s mind, urging them to choose life as the Devil’s real world avatar Mr. Nick attempts to lead them astray. A fantasy has two sides, one of needs and one of wants. We all need something in order to survive, but the carnal instincts within us have a tendency of leading us to simple pleasures and easy choices—Tom Waits’ Mr. Nick relishes this fact. Both he and Plummer are the best parts of the film, pitted against each other in bets worth far more than money, portraying an amazing pairing of the weak-hearted idealist and the greedy, conniving villainy only a heathen can conjure up. Waits has made a career out of playing the Devil and I don’t think anyone does a better job. Their supporting players help add to the games and stakes at hand too. Lily Cole is an exotic looking woman to be sure, containing a beauty that is not at first seen. Her performance is just the right mixture of innocence and a desire to be free, helping Andrew Garfield’s Anton’s frustration at always losing her seem real. I also really enjoyed Verne Troyer’s turn as Percy, the snide voice of reason and conscience to Parnassus.

So, with some great performances, a fantasy world as only Gilliam can create, a wonderfully appropriate ending, and the closest environment to Brazil he’s attained since, what went wrong? I keep going back to the world behind the mirror, a world that while imaginative, still retained a dark side at the start. Only when Ledger’s Tony goes through the final three times does it become a sensory assault and, for lack of a better word, fake. There is so much that is great within this film, but the final film just doesn’t live up. It’s impossible to know if things would have been different had Ledger lived, as well as how much of the story changed to be able to complete the film as a result of the tragedy. No disrespect to Farrell, but being the final vessel for Tony and involved in a crucial realization of who the character is, I think not having Ledger perform hurt its effectiveness. Farrell even seems to be channeling his stylings and mannerisms, only making me miss the actor more. As a result, there always seems to be something missing throughout with every infusion of pure glee like a square peg trying to enter a round hole. It is in the darkness—albeit spiced with humor courtesy of Waits—where The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus excels; the candy-coated moments just feel forced and misleading, distracting from what works.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus 7/10

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