The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus

Director: Terry Gilliam
Writers: Terry Gilliam, Charles Mckeown
Starring: Christopher Plummer, Heath Ledger
Release Date: December 25, 2009
Length: 2 hours 2 minutes

Academy Award Winner Heath Ledger gave his final performance in this wonder of a film, The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus – quite a mouthful, I know - directed by Terry Gilliam (The Brothers Grimm).  This film is a visual, creative and artistic focus on a circus act called The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus, in London, that performs throughout London, led by the immortal Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer).  His co-performers are his teenage daughter Valentina (Lily Cole), Anton (Andrew Garfield), a boy who’s in love with Valentina and a little person named Percy (Verne Troyer). Business doesn’t seem to be going well for the group, until they find a strange man (Heath Ledger) being hung from under a bridge. The group rescues him and takes him in. He wakes up not having a memory of who he is. While this is happening, The Doctor himself is having issues with the devil (Tom Waits) who he made a deal with, concerning his daughter. This is a film that makes you pay attention to everything that is going on in the story. Not just because you have to, to understand what is happening, but it makes you want to pay attention to every detail there is. Due to Ledger’s unexpected death, Jude Law, Johnny Depp, and Colin Farrell took over the his character as the character’s appearances changes each time he steps through the mirror into a different world. The three actors were exceptional for each of there five minutes that they had. They also seemed to pick up on the character Heath had created so well, down to the way they spoke and the idiosyncronisies each actor possessed. I completely believed that all four actors were the same character. As expected, Heath Ledger was hardly in the movie at all, maybe partly because his character wasn’t introduced until half an hour into the movie. For the small amount of screen time that he had, his persona radiated from the screen.  The beautiful Lily Cole was decent in her breakthrough role as Valentina. If it wasn’t for her character’s storyline though, I don’t think I would be half as interested when she was on screen. Andrew Garfield was enjoyable to watch as Anton, another one of the Imaginarium Act performers. Even though he didn’t have a leading title, I found his character to be the protagonist of the story. Director Terry Gilliam is known to do some kooky film projects, and this is no exception. But past the cool effects and costumes and colours, the story of the film uses old myths and tales about the devil, and good and evil, which most of us know. At the same time, the plot was completely original and inventive. Although the film most likely takes place in the present, I forgot sometimes what era they were in because the film gives off a certain timeless feel that made it more interesting to watch. I was hesitant about seeing this film not knowing if this was my kind of movie, but it turned out to be a phenomenal film. This may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I certainly loved watching The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus.