The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

So, last night I went to see The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, a Terry Gilliam film. It was a very different crowd than the night before for Bright Star. For that it was mostly an older crowd and the theater was maybe two thirds full. Last night, however, it was a very young crowd and the announcer declared us very lucky because there were over a thousand people who tried to get in. I did not feel the film deserved this huge popularity difference as I felt that Bright Star was by far the superior film.

Let me explain for those of you who don't already know the story of this film. The Imaginarium was the last film that Heath Ledger worked on and it was incomplete when he died. Some of his friends offered to step in and fill his roll in order to get his final film finished. These friends are, in order of appearance, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Ferrell. Now you might think it would be difficult to pull this off but this film actually lends itself to this quite nicely and I don't think anyone who doesn't know would even guess that this wasn't the plan all along.
The story is of Doctor Parnassus(Christopher Plummer) and his traveling Imaginarium. He is immortal as he has made a deal with the devil(Tom Waits) to give him his child(Lily Cole) upon her 16th birthday. The devil comes to collect but being fond of betting he offers a new bet as a chance to save her. I will say no more of the plot as I hate spoilers myself.

There are a lot of things that I like about this movie. Sets, costumes, characters, the premise. I would not give it a high rating, though. It lacked focus. There was a very strong plot and that should have been the driving force behind the whole film. I think the makers got a bit sidetracked by the wonderful fantasies they were creating and neglected the story. I don't think it would have made any difference if Heath Ledger had been the only one playing his character. I would not have liked it better.
I am not saying you shouldn't see it, because it is far from a failure. I just feel that there was so much waisted potential, that it was so close to being something really good. It just fell a bit short in my eyes.

Bright Star

Last night I went to see Bright Star, the latest film by Jane Campion (The Piano). It was playing at the Oxford Theater, just down the road from me, as part of the Atlantic Film Festival.
The story is based on the three year romance between John Keats and Fanny Brawne. As such it is a delicate tale filled with poetry. I did not find it slow or boring as it had the potential to be. Perhaps the old man snoring a couple seats down from me would disagree but I suspect it was just past his bedtime - the film didn't start until almost 10PM.
Though there was much reciting and quoting of poetry in the script, the cinematography was also visual poetry. I could have done without the woman beside me gasping "What a beautiful shot!" regularly but she was absolutely right.
I do not wish to give any of the story away, but if you know about the life of John Keats, then you will know how it ends. Though not a fairy tale ending, I did not leave the theater feeling sad or depressed, but moved. Moved by the beautiful tale, the inspiring filmmaking, and the amazing acting.

I had seen Ben Wishaw (Keats) once before in Perfume: The Story of a Murderer and have found both of these performances outstanding. Abbie Cornish (Brawne) was new to me but her performance was breathtaking at times, raw and genuine. Scratch that, I just looked her up and she is not new to me at all. I suppose it is a testament to her acting ability that I didn't recognize her. I saw her just a couple weeks ago in Candy which is also a wonderful film with Heath Ledger (warning: do not translate wonderful to uplifting, I have yet to see a film about drug addicts that isn't depressing). I have also seen her in Elizabeth: The Golden Age. I also enjoyed the performance of Edie Martin as Fanny's young sister Toots.

I'm not sure when Bright Star will hit theaters but I highly recommend it. And you will get the full effect of those amazing shots if you see it on the big screen.
I am off to The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus tonight so you can expect another review tomorrow.