Movie of the Week: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Alexa: I’ll be honest - I just did not get this movie. I was familiar with “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” only in that I knew it was Heath Ledger’s final film before his death. I knew nothing about the story going in, and after seeing it, I still can’t tell you much about the plot beyond the broad strokes. The writing is disjointed and the story is muddled amid an overabundance of visual effects. The visuals are truly spectacular, and they hook you into the film despite its flaws. But it’s as if Terry Gilliam was so focused on bringing that vision to life that the story became a mere afterthought, and as a result it’s difficult to follow. But Ledger and Christopher Plummer in particular deliver some engaging performances, and I appreciate the innovative way in which Gilliam managed to keep Ledger in the film after he died only a few weeks into filming. The face-changing angle works in the context of this fantastical world, and Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell all do an admirable job of channeling Ledger’s interpretation of Tony. They all feel like the same character, and the result is a fitting tribute to an eclectic actor. This film is a reminder of what a talented and charismatic actor Ledger was. Watching it 10 years after his death, I can’t help but wonder what incredible work we’ve missed out on in the past decade. Because as great as he is in “Doctor Parnassus,” unfortunately the film itself is all style and little substance.

Joel: There are parts of this movie that I really enjoyed. The sequences in the Imaginarium in particular felt like some top tier Gilliam visuals. Absurdist, stylized comic, yet somewhat jarring, visuals has been a calling card of Gilliam since the days that he was responsible for the bizarre animated sequences in Monty Python’s work. And in a way a lot of what goes on in the Imaginarium feels like a live action version of those animated sequences. There’s clearly a lot of care and attention to detail that’s put into the images and visuals put on the screen, and it’s clearly more important that the entire sequence comes across as a cohesive experience if not exactly a cohesive plot. Still, you do get to see the work of what is clearly still a master at the top of his game and these parts of the movie are brought to life. It’s what happens outside of the Imaginarium that doesn’t hold together as well.

Terry Gilliam has said that this movie is his most autobiographical as he sometimes feels like a storyteller, but that nobody is interested in hearing his stories anymore. And knowing that ahead of time, you can see how that was supposed to be a theme in this story, but it just doesn’t come across the way it was meant to. Pieces of the story seem to happen almost randomly, not really building in any understandable way from one scene to the next. A lot of the plot points between Doctor Parnassus and the Devil (or Mr. Nick) felt like they existed not because they fit within the story but because it was time for this or that plot point to be revealed and there was no other way.

If you are aware of who Terry Gilliam is and what he is best known for, this is a movie that will be able to check all the boxes you’re looking for in that regard. But it’s frustrating to think that a bit more work on trying to make the whole thing cohesive, and this could have gone down as one of his better movies.

Chris: The feeling I get when watching Doctor Parnassus is the same Synecdoche, New York (I’ve seen both twice now) in the sense that both Terry Gilliam and Charlie Kaufman can get away with a lot due to the success and adoration of previous works but would probably benefit from not directing their own scripts. Or, in the case of Gilliam, direct someone else’s script because his visual style is his calling card but his writing is weak and trying too hard to be profound or funny and it usually ends up being neither. Honestly, the most interesting thing about this movie is how the replacement actors for Heath Ledger were woven into the story and adjustments were made to explain the change in appearance and it makes me wonder what the original plot was suppose to be and how different did it end up being. We really don’t need to touch on the performance of the late Verne Troyer or the scene where he was in blackface, the sheer horribleness speaks for itself.

Gilliam has repeatedly said about Doctor Parnassus that the story felt autobiographical to him because he was telling fantastical stories to world that no longer wanted to hear them and that, to me, feels like someone that’s a little too into their own abilities and needs to have a balance, another creative force to help reign in Gilliam’s ego. I understand the satirical message in a lot of the movie but, as I stated earlier, the script is trying so hard to make a point and be profound that it nearly says nothing at all.

Jason: This is not the Terry Gilliam movie to start someone off with. It may not be the most cohesive or the most easily followed. But it may very well be one of my favorites from him. His visual style is so pronounced in this movie, not only in the Imaginarium sequences but also in the real-world parts. There are shots at weird angles that distort the subjects that are purely him. And the humor is delightful.

This is one of those movies you can’t watch just once if you want to see all that it has to offer.  The plot can be confusing if you miss a line (or, as in our case, have a screaming one-year-old).. Beyond all the things you can nitpick over is an engaging fantasy tale full of intriguing characters, beautiful locations, and exciting twists. The actors all did a bang up job. (Except maybe Verne Troyer. His delivery is just plain not good but I never really considered him a great actor to begin with.) The characterization of Tony is a rollercoaster ride. Heath Ledger was truly a bright spot in the game. The fact that they were able to still turn this into a full movie after his passing is a testament to his performance during the parts he did shoot. The Dream Tonys were able to take the character and expand on him, making him their own while still feeling like the same character. Without Ledger’s solid framework, they wouldn’t have pulled it off quite so well.

I understand the others’ problems with the over abundance of Gillianisms in this movie but if you like that sort of thing, this one is simply fantastic.