
Boundless creativity can be a shortcoming if not channeled
properly, a fact proven by
The
Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus as it barrels from one extravagantly
whimsical set piece to another. Terry Gilliam has never been a director prone
to inhibition, and that’s increasingly become both his blessing and curse as a
filmmaker, with the latter holding more true of his latest. His first original
screenplay since
Brazil, the film
concerns immortal magic man Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plumber) who, while
travelling around modern London in a
Howl’s
Moving Castle-ish stage-vehicle-home contraption with his assistant Anton
(Andrew Garfield) and 16-year-old daughter Valentina (Lily Cole), both
continues his age-old battle with the Devil (Tom Waits) and hooks up with a
seemingly resurrected amnesiac named Tony (Heath Ledger). As Ledger died during
production, Gilliam enlists the help of Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Collin
Farrell to play Tony when he enters into the Imaginarium, a portal into
Parnassus’ mind where dreams and nightmares come to life. It’s a deftly
executed workaround, but one that doesn’t improve the proceedings’
helter-skelter messiness. Actors race about, make exaggerated faces, and
confuse nervous, anxious mannerisms for quirky idiosyncrasy, all while Gilliam
frantically but unsuccessfully attempts to fashion an actual story – something
about the Devil coming for Valentina on her 16th birthday if
Parnassus can’t best him in a wager over collected souls – out of slapdash,
seemingly improvised sequences awash in uneven CG effects. Lionizing the power
of the imagination as an ultimate ideal,
Parnassus
feels like a collection of ideas in search of a sturdy framework or at least a
passing connection to reality. As it is, the film feels like a patchwork quilt
of prior Gilliam elements from
The
Adventures of Baron Munchausen,
The
Fisher King and especially
The
Brothers Grimm, right down to Ledger’s overcooked gonzo turn.
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