The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Friday, January 14, 2011

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Well the first thing i have to say is I thought after watching this movie the 1st time  it was going to be one of those movies that the more you watch it the less you like it. This was not the case however because i noticed more things the second time through the premise does not get stupider as you go along unlike many many movies out today.

Onto the actual review
the first thing I'm going to talk about is How Terry Gilliam used contrast to make this movie interesting you watch the opening scene and it is this impossible cart that looks like It rode out of the 17th century and its juxtaposed to modern London. The visuals of this movie is amazing when the characters enter the Imaginarium it is just wonderful designs from Gilliam(who as I'm sure many of you know was the illustrator on Flying Circus) but the style changes with everyone who is in control of the Imaginarium. The visuals of this film are some of the best Ive seen. And well worth checking out this movie for.

The characters are rather enjoyable. Instead of writing out synopsis of the characters I'm going to copy synopsises from wikipedia because someone with much less of a life than me took a lot of time to put that together. (i know that is a scary thought someone with less of a life than me.)

Cast

Tom Waits (Mr Nick) and Lily Cole (Valentina) promoting the film at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival

• Heath Ledger as Tony: A mysterious outsider who joins the group.^[10] When Ledger died in the midst of production, the role was recast for certain scenes to have Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell portray "physically transformed versions" of the character within the eponymous Imaginarium.^[11]
• Christopher Plummer as Doctor Parnassus: A former monk and the 1,000-year-old leader of a travelling theatre troupe.^[12]
• Andrew Garfield as Anton: a member of Doctor Parnassus' troupe.^[13]
• Verne Troyer as Percy: Doctor Parnassus' confidant.^[13]
• Lily Cole as Valentina: Doctor Parnassus' daughter.^[14]
• Tom Waits as Mr. Nick: a personification of the Devil.^[12]
• Peter Stormare as the President of the Universe: a world statesman^[15]
• Maggie Steed as Louis Vuitton Woman^[16]
• Mark Benton as Dad^[16]
• Simon Day as Uncle Bob^[16]
• Paloma Faith as Sally^[16]
• Richard Riddell as Martin^[16]
• Montserrat Lombard as Sally's friend^[16]
• Genevieve Sibayan as Drunken Youth^[17]

 Copied directly form the Wikipedia page on 1/14/11 8:30 Pm

The story is quite wonderful on the surface its about a man trying to save his daughter and a nice stranger trying to help him and his friends.

If you look into it more carefully it is much darker. It is about a drunken gambling addict. What Game is he addicted to GAMBLING WITH THE DEVIL Mr Nick is the devil hes the devil everything Doctor Parnasus does is to get another fix of Gambling with the devil. When he makes the Big decision to whether or not to let Tony help them he thinks of it in terms of a gamble. And he asks his almost 16 year old daughter  Valentina what to do. of course she wants to Ride  Tony like a penny horse outside of Meijers so i have to call into question her Judgement.




SPOILERS



Tony it turns out is just trying to hide from people he cheated and lied to. there is some questions whether or not the accusations made in the Imaginarium are real or not but it turns out Tony was hung  because he was selling the organs of children Mr Nick then to get Tony dead because of his pipe. (ill get to that in a minute) Makes one last wager with Parnasus He will let Valentina go if he kills Tony and Parnasus does this with a game of chance. Then after Parnasus wanders the desert slips into the real world. and you have to wonder was all that a delusional crack fantasy.



END  OF SPOILERS

the acting is great in this movie All the actors who played Tony did a great job.
It is hard to tell at first when the switch is made. Its nice to see Verne Troyer getting a chance to actually act. Only other time Ive seen that was when he was fighting Bruce Campbell when he was playing Napoleon.

The odds and ends to discuss are not that many. According to directors commentary the pipe that kept saving Tory's life is from the idea when you are hung by strangulation instead of the modern idea of the rope snapping your neck if you had something to hold your airway open you could survive so i can't fault the movie on that. he only real thing that is unanswered is how was Percy there we saw him in the monastery with Parnasus so did Mr Nick grant him immortality too or is that just a different person.

I would have to recommend that people go out and watch this movie rent it or borrow a copy from a friend. because that is what this movie was about friendship that is why the movie wasn't canceled after Ledgers death and why the end credits read

A film from Heath Ledger and Friends.

Definitely see this movie it is worth it just so you can get used to the visuals because Terry Gilliam's works only get weirder and more visually assaulting to you. i was going to make a video review of this movie then i deiced to save that for next time what will I review next.

Well as a great man once said  "buy the ticket take the ride."