Up & Coming Weekly

24 UCW FEBRUARY 3-9, 2010 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM As a writer/director Terry Gilliam tends to produce a mixed bag of awe- some and awful movies. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Twelve Monkeys, and Tideland are among my favorite movies. It is perhaps better not to mention Fisher King and The Brothers Grimm, both of which were painful to sit through. Of course, he is more interesting for his one great failure than for his many minor bombs. If you haven't checked out Lost in La Mancha, the documentary about his doomed effort to film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, then there is no time like the present! In fact, the once legendarily failed film is now back in pre-production and scheduled for release in 2011. Sadly, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus (122 minutes) is neither so good it's worth dragging your friends to, nor so bad that you can enjoy it ironically through mocking it the instant you leave the theater. It's on screen, it's certainly bright enough, and there's plenty of eye candy. However, the loss of Heath Ledger forced a little too much improvisa- tion a little too late in the day. The film itself is enjoy- able on an artistic level without being satisfying on a commercial level. Imaginarium opens congenially enough; street performers work hard to create an atmo- sphere of childish wonder. Unfortunately, childish wonder is wasted on the pub crawlers who immedi- ately disrupt the spontane- ous street show starring Anton (Andrew Garfield) Percy (Vern Troyer) Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) and Valentina (Lily Cole). As it turns out, the spontaneous street show is a mask, concealing the mysteries that lie within the mind of Dr. Parnassus. It seems that the titular character has dealt with the devil (Tom Waits, naturally), trading certain consid- erations for immortality. Many years later, the doctor had reason to bargain again, and it is the result of that latest bargain the drives the remainder of the movie. Through meditation, the doctor is able to shape the "imaginarium" to offer those who enter a choice that will result in either their salvation or their doom. The doc- tor and his partners set up shop in various locations, eventually joined by Tony (Heath Ledger, to start). Once Tony gets into the act, the complications quickly multiply. Due to some quirks of the mirror, all too clearly developed to accommodate the loss of Ledger one-third of the way through filming, on his first trip into the Imaginarium, Tony (now played by Johnny Depp) experiences some changes. On each subsequent trip, he is played by different actor (Jude Law, Colin Farrell). Oddly enough, it works. Gilliam may have been driven to the plot device (and it shows), but within the logic of the narrative it mostly helps, as opposed to hindering, plot development. Loyalties are developed and lost, and through the use of several contrived devices, Parnassus and the devil end up neck in neck in the competition they are betting on. As the film approaches its climax, things get a little bit hectic. It is hard to know who to root for, or sort out the logic of the main players. The film is enjoyable primarily as a contemporary fairy tale, and the costumed excesses of the cast are clearly an intention rather than an accident. Serious fans of Gilliam will find much to admire; I will wait for The Man Who Killed Don Quixote to sing his praises again. Good Luck Following the Plot The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus (Rated PG-13) by HEATHER GRIFFITHS HEATHER GRIFFITHS, Contributing Writer COMMENTS? 484-6200 ext. 222 or editor@upandcomingweekly.com

• Cover