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The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus (2009)

Director: Terry Gilliam

Time Out rating

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12 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

Read our interview with Gilliam here

There can’t have been a movie-lover on the planet who didn’t want ‘… Doctor Parnassus’ to be great, a triumphant comeback for a troubled director after his leading man passed away during production. Terry Gilliam’s struggle to bring Heath Ledger’s last performance to the screen was laudable: he rallied a crack crew of A-listers (including Johnny Depp and Jude Law) to essay enigmatic variations on their fallen comrade, all the while struggling with his own grief at the loss of a friend.But there’s no escaping the fact that the completed film, though lovingly made, is something of a mess. Set in a stark contemporary London, it’s a patronising elegy for the death of the public imagination, as personified by Christopher Plummer’s Parnassus, a travelling teller of tall tales whose audience is progressively shrinking.

Ledger excels as snake-tongued amnesiac Tony Liar, who hops aboard the ramshackle Imaginarium and begins to charm punters with his raffish air of money-grubbing mischief. But his performance – the film’s trump card – is repeatedly elbowed out by a centuries-spanning duel between Parnassus and Tom Waits’s cigar-chomping Satan, told in garish CG flashbacks.
It’s telling that Parnassus, an unsubtle proxy for the director, never recognises his own culpability as his audience’s interest dwindles: it’s modern man’s refusal to open his mind, not the artist’s unwillingness to connect, that dooms the Imaginarium. It’s unlikely Gilliam’s own, undeniably brilliant career will be revitalised by this rambling, undisciplined and indulgent piece of work.

Read our interview with Gilliam here

Author: Tom Huddleston 2009-10-13 10:32:43

Time Out London Issue 2043: 15 - 21 October, 2009

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User reviews of this film

jorge peterman said...

Posted on Nov 15 2009 02:43 Lily Cole simply awful.

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john said...

Posted on Nov 13 2009 17:09 My partner and i went to see this film on the recommendation of a film review critic. i always thought Popeye (Robin Williams) was the worst film i had ever seen... i was wrong :-( and i paid £13.50 to find this out... i too would like my money back.
a clever idea to use Jude Law and Johny Depp.
don't rate film so no star

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Erda said...

Posted on Nov 12 2009 04:40 A poorly thought-out, thoroughly pretentious script that is intellectually and technically insubstantial.
Despite boasting stunning CGI and a number of exceptional performances, one can't help but feel the film wasn't made based on its own merits... rather this film was dragged through production, then distribution based on the selling power of the stars attached to it.

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fueldragster said...

Posted on Nov 03 2009 12:02 I was interested to see what other people put and, as ever, those that are motivated to provide unpaid reviews tend to want to praise or condemn with precious little middle ground.
The worst film (Sara) ever seen..? I'm tempted to query which other two films she has seen since in my opinion the reels certainly do not deserve to be sent to some cinematic purgatory or strung up for public ridicule. I really liked it and think it deserves praise rather than a panning. I am not going to say it is the very best film that I have seen but it is a good one that does at least tell a story. As stated by others there are good performances by all the major players including Plummer, Waits {inspired choice}, Cole, Garfield etc. I sometimes wonder what other reviewers expected, this is a Gilliam project and there is a style that goes with his bigger films (eg Baron M, Brazil, Time Bandits) and I for one look forward to seeing what he has prepared in "the other world" and this does not disappoint with a worthwhile tale and brilliant physical and cgi sets. If you "know what you like" be it action, musical, thriller, art with a capital F, romcom or weepy and only want more of the same then save your money, if you have liked Gilliam's work or just fancy something that has been made with great care then I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.

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Johnny Alexander said...

Posted on Oct 31 2009 23:28 At its best, this film is boring. At its worst, it is so bad it's depressing. For a film supposed to be about the human imagination, the only thing I was left wondering was how Gilliam managed to raise the money for the (dreadful) script. Either Gilliam is a great salesman or he hit on the world's most gullible producer. Awful. I want my £9.50 back.

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rogerrabbit007 said...

Posted on Oct 30 2009 17:20 3 words WHAT THE F***!!!!!!!

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sara said...

Posted on Oct 30 2009 08:31 a beautiful cast for the worst film i ever seen..

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Go watch it! said...

Posted on Oct 25 2009 13:11 The end does get a little confusing, and doesn't tie up quite as well as other Gilliam films - but aside from this it is excellent. If you expect a straight forward storyline which you will be able to relate to - this is not the film for you; if on the other hand you want to be stunned by amazing visual ideas and you are happy to let your mind work overtime to chanllenge itself on the concept of reality, then you must see this film. Good performances all round, and except for the very end it is hard to imagine that this would have worked much differently with Heath Ledger playing Tony throughout. The real star in my mind though, is Lily Cole, who proves to be as skilled and genuine an actress as her co-stars, and definitely one to look out for in the future.

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Melissa said...

Posted on Oct 20 2009 10:37 If you're a Terry Gilliam fan then go. I did and I was very happy with what I saw. There were some problems with the plot that could have been so easily fixed, so a bit frustrating, but overall a really lovely movie.

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errr said...

Posted on Oct 19 2009 15:28 This film MUST be the MOST DISAPPOINTING and BORING film I ever watched, visually looks good, story-wise not good at all.
Not even worth watching it on DVD! Don't waste your money.

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Mahbuba said...

Posted on Oct 18 2009 16:20 I really enjoyed the film. The plot was at times hard to follow but the cinematography was good and the premise behind the film had a ring of truth to it. The actors also did an excellent job.

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Lalalaar said...

Posted on Oct 17 2009 15:25 LOVE HEATH LEDGER XXXXXXXXX

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