Get all the results, fashion and intrigue from Oscar night, right here. Also check the results of our poll and see how readers fared when predicting the awards!
Get all the results, fashion and intrigue from Oscar night, right here. Also check the results of our poll and see how readers fared when predicting the awards!
Considering how often fate has bedeviled Terry Gilliam -- studio interference on "Brazil," budget overruns on "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen," the major missteps in his still-unmade Don Quixote movie -- it's oddly appropriate that his latest, "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," centers on one man's deal with the devil.
It's also telling that fate's cruel trick -- taking Heath Ledger from us midway through filming -- has inspired Gilliam to make one of his most inventive and strange films.
The Imaginarium of the title is a traveling carnival act, presided over by the aging and drunken Dr. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer), who promises to take audience members on a ride through a magic mirror. People soon find, though, that what's on the other side is frighteningly real -- and sometimes people end up with their souls in the custody of the devil himself, Mr. Nick (Tom Waits).
Parnassus owes a debt to Mr. Nick, too. After gaining immortality in a bet with Mr. Nick, Parnassus doubled down by asking for youth so he could woo a woman -- with the price being Parnassus' child, Valentina (played by the cherub-faced newcomer Lily Cole) at age 16, which is in three days.
Parnassus' traveling act -- which includes Valentina, the young emcee Anton (Andrew Garfield), and Parnassus' loyal assistant Percy (Verne Troyer, from the "Austin Powers" films) -- soon gets a new member: Tony (played by Ledger). Tony, hiding out from scandal and gangsters, finds refuge with Parnassus and helps to lure more customers who might keep Mr. Nick away from Valentina.
The story, by Gilliam and "Brazil" collaborator Charles McKeown, is at once convoluted and slight -- melting like cotton candy under scrutiny. But Gilliam's visuals, which evoke everything from Renaissance art to his own "Monty Python" animation, are endlessly imaginative.
Also imaginative, as one would expect in an imaginarium, is how Gilliam handles Ledger's unfinished performance. Ledger had shot the reality-based scenes, but died before finishing the fantasy sequences. Gilliam enlisted three stars -- Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell -- to pinch-hit for Ledger in those fantasy scenes within the imaginarium. The results, notably Law's exuberant performance, are fascinating and a fine tribute to Ledger's work.
But what anchors "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" is Plummer, who at age 80 is in something of a career revival -- with an acclaimed portrayal of Leo Tolstoy in "The Last Station," and voice work in "Up" and "9." Plummer conveys both the carny barker's charm and the loneliness of immortality, giving the grounding this movie needs to let Gilliam's flights of fancy soar.
This looks really interesting. [ Report Abuse ]