Here’s another inspiring visual session conceived by the master of fantasy – or the mad scientist of cinema, however you like to call Terry Gilliam. Update: Iulia’s review was picked up by the official support site of the movie. Thanks guys!

Trailer

Review

No matter how giddy, his films are thrilling because he doesn’t look at his creations with the superior glance of an author, but with a deep respect and, most of all, liberated by the rational logic chains. For him creation equals madness – not in the pathological but in the cultural sense – his overturned order is sublime.

Each of his films are like a trip behind a painting and with “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” he enriches his gallery with an extravagant exhibit – a little bit malefic, a little bit chaotic, but overwhelmingly human. He melts here the visual style of the early Monty Python animations, or The Adventures of Baron Muchausen, adds a little of his obsession with Ernst and Magritte, the touch of carnival atmosphere we can find in commedia dell’arte, and his fascinating passion for mechanisms. Although you can have the feeling that this films lacks a plot, never mind – this celebration of the fantasy is very enjoyable! Gilliam himself seemed to act with the enthusiasm of a kid (a mad one, for sure:) when playing with this devilish toy and you just don’t realize when you make the deal with it – just like Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) made the deal with the devilish Tom Waits.

The director, who is also a co-writer, seems to produce a reflexive work which sums up a lot of questions about the nature of the creators: are they dual beings, humble human beings who tend to immortality through their gift to tell stories? Are they sinners who can hurt the loved ones because of their expanded ego? Are they manipulators who tend to multiply our souls through their fiction or the mirror which shows the truth within ourselves? The multiplication of Heath Ledger’s character with performances from Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law becomes thus an advantage and a very beautiful metaphor of this immersion into the land of imagination. It’s just pure pleasure!

Short Movies

Storytime (1964)

Dancing Teeth