For everyone thinking that the land of Pandora in "Avatar" was the most breathtaking thing you've ever seen, you obvious haven't stepped into the world of director Terry Gilliam.
Welcome to the Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, a travelling carnival show in England whose big gimmick is a mirror that transports anyone into an alternate universe where all of their dreams come true. Lead by Parnassus (Christopher Plummer), the team suffers from lack of modern day appeal as they lack promotional skills and have a plethora of midevil scenery. By the time anything occurs, hecklers have interrupted the show and the police are in the midst of shutting them down.
That is, of course until the show's stars Valentina (Lily Cole) and Anton (Andrew Garfield) find a man named Tony hanging from a bridge (Heath Ledger), who is at first unaware of his identity and would later correlate publicity to improve the show.
Upon the show's change in success, Parnassus makes a deal with an old colleague, the Devil (Tom Waits), who believes that the imagination is a terrible thing and that Parnassus cannot convince five souls that his mirror really is a wonderful land of pure enjoyment.
Around this time, Tony gets curious and that's when the fun begins. The performances shift from Heath Ledger's dry, sly cat performance to an array of Tonys, played by Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrel. To the uneducated, this move would not make sense at first (Ledger's death), but somehow this last minute rewrite is what I felt took the movie out of a slow, mediocre pace that wasn't Ledger's fault, but the story's lack of consistency to move forward.
It's upon Tony's trips into the mirror that we get to see real Gilliam magic, notably in the worlds inhabited by Law and Farrel. These worlds spark moments of twisted enjoyment, including Gilliam written tunes featuring dancing police men and children suffering.
The effects come across at times as primitive, but are used to full advantage of creating an alternative world of madness with unbelievable outcomes, choosing to challenge our understanding at times of depth and how strong and loyal these characters are. For many, the certainly odd tapestry and steam punk references will be a little bizarre, but in a world where imagination should triumph, it creates so much more without sinking into the overly dark world of a Tim Burton film, instead pseudically paying homage to Gilliam's days as an animator for Monty Python.
The story may have some plot holes, but for the most part, it's an enjoyment from an unorthodox plot involving love, obsession and gambling it away. Gilliam's vision is a creative effort that may not appeal to mainstream audiences looking for cookie cutter patterns, but will be a thrilling pat on the back for those looking for something colorfully unorthodox.
While Heath Ledger's final performance was also pretty good, I have to give special note to Tom Waits as the Devil who gives the movie's narrative a strong weaving with tempting dialogue and a subplot surely ripped off from the bible, but in no way overly religious in the film.
It doesn't all make sense, but it's definitely one of the best pieces of work that will go unnoticed by mainstream cinema. Terry Gilliam has directed another fine piece of work creating simultaneous eye candy and giving us storylines and fantasy that are what blockbusters should be made of. It also manages to be a fitting tribute to the talent of Heath Ledger, an actor gone too soon.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
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