Source: Halifax, The Coast
By Carsten Knox
People are going to be into The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus when it comes out. Those of us who are dyed-in-the-wool Terry Gilliam acolytes will thrill at the roiling, hallucinatory feast, evocative of his most unrestrained fantasy work: Time Bandits, Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Heath Ledger fans are going to enjoy his final role, and it’s a hefty one. Fans of Christopher Plummer will enjoy him too, he’s great in this. Where does he get the energy? And the stoner brigade is going adore the picture in a huge way, no doubt, for its peculiar flights of baroque, visual fancy. But those who find Gilliam’s storytelling too disjointed or bizarre won’t be won over here. I’m not surprised to see that the few reviews so far listed on the Rotten Tomatoes critical aggregator website has the film at exactly 50 percent. It’s gonna piss some people off.
I say, god bless you, Terry Gilliam, for continuing to do that thing that both excites and annoys people and channel your energy into cinema, and for shaking off the mud and unpleasantness that scuppered The Brothers Grimm and Tideland. I say, keep on going Terry, you go make that Don Quixote movie after all. I say, nice job on this one.
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Sunday, 20. September 2009
Y’know, this always amazes me. There is always a bunch of critics who say Terry’s film is “messy”, “undisciplined”, and “a muddle.” They give the impression that you need a secret decoder ring to follow the film and that no one but “an acolyte” could enjoy it. That just isn’t true, IMO. Terry’s films aren’t straightforward and they always contain surprises. The imagery is rich and complex. Each viewing gives you a different and richer understanding of the story. That isn’t the same thing as throwing in everything but the kitchen sink with no rhyme or reason.
I’ll be interested to see how the critical balance works out this time–I’ll just point out that I’ve seen at least 4 very positive reviews by tomato-meter critics posted here that aren’t yet listed on the site.
And I absolutely agree with Mr. Knox on this: “God bless you, Terry Gilliam, for continuing to do that thing that both excites and annoys people and channel your energy into cinema, and for shaking off the mud and unpleasantness that scuppered The Brothers Grimm and Tideland. I say, keep on going, Terry.”
Sunday, 20. September 2009
Great review of the Dr. Parnassus movie. I love all these great reviews.