Doctor Parnassus is the leader of a traveling theater troupe. He is in a constant struggle with the Devil, known as Mr. Nick. They are collecting souls, Nick tempting them with false desires while Parnassus uses the wonder of their own imagination. If Parnassus does not get more followers than Nick he loses his daughter to him when she turns 16. In desperation, the troupe turn to an amnesic man they saved from a noose who gets them into all sorts of trouble.
Terry Gilliam is probably one of my favorite directors, but his self-indulgent directing style drags this movie down considerably. Mr. Nick is overtly an analog for the Devil. This starts a constant search for religious analog throughout the film. You can definitely find some, that is the genius of Gilliam's multi-layered work, but it becomes a chore. It is distracting trying to figure who is the analog for God or Christ or whoever.
The character of Tony is very interesting, but the acting changes I think hurts whatever kind of evolution the character could have naturally. Heath Ledger's performance was decent, but it was never ground-breaking. It saddens me that this is his last performance. Johnny Depp excels easily channeling Ledger the most. Jude Law was kind of bland, certainly not memorable. Colin Farrell falls flat on his face flipping the character without an ounce of subtlety and ignoring all the charisma that made Ledger's enigmatic riffraff likeable in the first place.
Like all Gilliam's films, Imaginarium's strongest element is its visual flare. This time there is an obvious throwback to his animation days with Monty Python with it's exaggerated showmanship and surreal landscapes. His eccentric fashion and character depictions out-do his past attempts. Another really strong element is the way his story mirrors that of his own journey through the film industry. Gilliam is Parnassus, a wide-eyed film-maker with a great appreciation with imagination and expects the same from his audience, but he is constantly tempted by the studio system (Mr. Nick) which seduces the audience with more of the same safe elements they already know they love rather then venturing into new territory. This leads to Parnassus/Gilliam's fall and rebirth working outside the studio system. Prepare to see more from Gilliam in the future as he becomes comfortable in his position within the industry.
A visual testament to Gilliam's filmography and his truly imaginative mind, but Gilliam's over-indulgence gets the best of him.
5/10
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