Reel Critic - 1/21/10

“The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus,” the latest acid trip from director Terry Gilliam (“12 Monkeys,” “Brazil,” Monty Python) is an adventure into the writer/director’s infamous fantasy bohemian aesthetic.

The film opens late one night on a seedy street in London when the rickety horse drawn cart that later becomes “The Imaginarium” rolls to a stop.

Quickly, the cart transforms into a stage and a few passersby on their nights out stop to watch the street performers’ show. The performers, who look like they’ve just come from Moulin Rouge, entice the viewers to enter the mind of Dr. Parnassus, who sits stoically on stage with long grey hair and his face painted white.

When one particularly rowdy guest goes through the mirror on stage into the mind of Dr. Parnassus, he is given the opportunity to live in his own imagination. In the world of his imagination, he is tempted to choose between good and evil because of a bet Dr. Parnassus made with the devil thousands of years before.

Further along their journey, the band of outsiders finds Tony (Heath Ledger), an amnesiac who has grand ideas to make “The Imaginarium” more profitable. As they begin to perform for a higher-class clientele, the women who enter Dr. Parnassus’ imagination see Tony as their ideal man, thus creatively allowing the film to recast the part after Ledger’s death.

The women leave “The Imaginarium” with a euphoric look on their faces, heightening the allure of the experience.

This allows Tony to take advantage of the enterprise, only to reveal his corrupt motives.

It is difficult to summarize this overly complicated and often spotty story that doesn’t come to a resolution; luckily, the success of this film doesn’t come in the form of traditional storytelling.

The performances in the film are strong throughout. Christopher Plummer plays Dr. Parnassus as a wise, aged man with the right amount of charm.

Ledger, in his final role, commands the screen whenever he is on it, improvising most of his lines and creating a thoroughly compelling character. With Ledger only filming the London scenes before his death, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell take over the character in the fantasy sequences and finish the story with just as much believability as could be expected.

Depp carries the character serviceably, Law loses the viewer’s attention for 15 minutes, and Farrell takes the character to a new place, portraying the evil side of Tony effectively. Ultimately, in all of their performances, the lack of preparation and understanding of the character is clear.

The acting gem of the piece comes from Tom Waits, portraying the tempting and conniving devil with a coolness and slyness that starts and ends with Waits’ signature raspy voice.

As with all Gilliam films, it is directed and stylized with a very clear vision that makes the world of the film wholly aesthetically pleasing.

This is the first film in 25 years that Gilliam storyboarded himself and it shows in the detail and precision of the shots. Some of the editing and cinematography choices seem sloppy, with shots going on a bit too long and frames getting overly crowded, making it difficult to focus on the important action at times. Gilliam is successful at creating two worlds and many compelling characters, sometimes at the expense of plot cohesion. Overall, though, the film’s visuals are impressive and command much of the viewer’s focus, making for a successful and enjoyable movie experience.