Movie Review: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
It’s strange that I should be bored by a movie with a word like “Imaginarium” in the title, but I have to say, that’s where I was finding myself by the second hour of this film: firmly entrenched in the land of boredom. By then, the movie was so irreparably muddled that all I was hoping for was it to end as quickly as possible. The first half hour or so was very strong. The plot…while there was one…went something like this. Christopher Plummer, as Dr. Parnassus, has made a deal with the devil, Tom Waits, for immortality. In exchange, when his daughter turns sixteen, the devil will take possession of her and her soul. Having lived for many centuries, Parnassus, a hapless drunk, makes his living as a sort of traveling peddler, who, along with a teenage front-man who has eyes for his shapely young daughter, and Verne Troyer (because every circus act needs a midget), trundle about in a colorful, over-sized cart, stopping to give shows, during which people are whisked away into the “imaginarium” a sort of fantasy world created partially through their own imaginings and partially through Parnassus’ conjuring. Things become complicated when their family life is disturbed by a new addition, Tony (Heath Ledger, in his final role). The daughter falls for Ledger, whose reason for being there is unclear, and, unfortunately, remains so throughout the film. After a certain point, it all just falls apart. I wish I could explain it more clearly than that, but I simply can’t. Seldom have I encountered a more tangled hour and a half than that which followed the first thirty minutes. There is a struggle between Parnassus and the devil, during which each one is trying to capture five souls; if the devil does so, he retains possession of the daughter, if Parnassus wins, the daughter goes free. Along the way, we learn more about Tony, but also less. There are people after him because he embezzled money from a children’s charity of his own creation, or at least I think that’s what’s happening. I couldn’t swear to it, or to much of anything else in this movie.
This is a film by Terry Gilliam, and he’s hit and miss. He’s had some really big hits (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Fisher King, 12 Monkeys), and some spectacular misses (The Brothers Grimm, which was completely unwatchable). Although there were some really fun visual moments in this film, colorful, eye-popping, etc, there’s also a whole lot that makes no sense, both in terms of plot and in every other conceivable way. This seems like a rough draft of a film rather than a finished product, emphasis on rough. Probably half an hour to forty-five minutes of this film could be saved; the rest belongs on the cutting room floor. It seems like, when Gilliam has a project in mind, he has about a million ideas, and this time, rather than choosing between them, he tried fitting in all of them. The result is a muddle of epic proportions. There are high points, certainly. Heath Ledger does a fine job, for all the scenes that were shot with him before his death (three other actors fill in for him, Johnny Depp, delivering a lot, as usual, Jude Law, delivering a little, and Colin Ferral, making me want to lobotomize myself with a spoon). It’s yet another reminder of how talented Ledger was, and how much of a loss his death really is. Christopher Plummer is enjoyable as Parnassus, and likewise Tom Waits, who is essentially playing himself. Still, this movie has far too many shortcomings to counteract the bright spots. The tone suffers from so much incongruity that there are several moments, looking around the theater, when I could see that the audience didn’t know how to react to what they were seeing. Whenever you have people looking at each other and being sort of perplexed, along with a few scattered, none-too-sure-of-themselves chuckles, you know you’re failing as a director, and the fault here is all Gilliam’s. This belongs in the same category as The Brothers Grimm: a failure on a number of levels. In a way, it’s almost like Ledger’s career, which experienced legitimate hits, like The Dark Knight and Brokeback Mountain, and seriously bad misses, like a Knight’s Tale. I guess you can’t win ‘em all, but at least Terry Gilliam will have a chance to make another movie. Ledger, tragically, will not. My rating: 4/10.