The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Now, some of you read the title and thought, "What in the great googly-moogly is this?" Other's opened the page and see the poster as well as Heath Ledger's face and think, "Wow! There's the Joker before he died! What's this about?"  Other's have read these sentences and laughed to themselves and felt superior.

For those of you who have never seen this film,The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a 2009 fantasy film directed by Terry Gilliam and written by Terry Gilliam and Charles McKeown about a traveling theater troupe whose leader has made a bet with the devil which involves the leader taking people through a magic mirror that explores their imaginations and presents them with a choice between enlightenment or self-gratifying ignorance.  It's also the real last movie Heath Ledger was in before he died, not The Dark Knight like everyone seems to think.


In fact, Heath Ledger died while one third of the way through filming, suspending production until Heath Ledger's role could be recast.  Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell portrayed the character of Tony each time he went with people through the dream worlds.


Oh yeah, and Tom Waits, Verne Troyer, Lily Cole, and Christopher Plummer are all in this movie.  You know, because the rest of the cast is pretty awesome and still alive as of the writing of this post.

If everything I just told you didn't make you want to sit down and watch the movie, then I need to tell you why I love this movie.  Yes, I like all of the actors.  Yes, Terry Gilliam is brilliant in my opinion as a writer and director.  I always loved Monty Python.  However, the real reason I like this film isn't just the combination of all those great things.

I also like the looks of this movie.  It is pretty there are scenes where I wish I'd seen the movies in theaters because they take my breath away.  They are amazing and imaginative and I would never have come up with them in my own head.  Parts of this movie are downright, no other word to describe it, beautiful.


However, the real reason I like this movie is because it is a bit of a salute to the imagination as I see it.  This man makes a bet with the Devil initially to see who could win twelve souls first: the one who craved and believed in stories of imaginations (Parnassus) or the one who would use addictive feeble desires (the Devil, obviously).  Parnassus won and was made immortal.  Think about it.  I mean really think about it.  Which would you choose? Who would you follow?  Of course, I crave and love stories of imagination.  They drive me through life even when everything seems rotten.  However, I'm sure I have a couple of addictive feeble desires that might... lead me astray.  It's a tough question.

It doesn't help that the Devil is played by Tom Waits and he's charismatic, awesome, and just cool.  You can't help but look his way even when the imaginative landscape is awesome to behold.  It also doesn't help that Christopher Plummer's Dr. Parnassus is a feeble, broken old man who seems to have lost everything, but his daughter.  You quickly learn Dr. Parnassus's addictive feeble desire: gambling with the Devil himself.  So the whole movie, you want to cheer for Dr. Parnassus and have him win, but at the same time, he kind of sucks as a hero while the Devil's a smooth-talking cool guy.  Not only that, but the more you think about it, the more you realize that Dr. Parnassus has already lost and there's nothing that can be done until he realizes his mistakes and decides not to make them anymore.

Yes, it's a bit of a hopeless movie, but it's a good one and if you haven't seen it, you need to because it's beautiful, enchanting, and it gives you something to think deeply about.  This movie isn't brain candy; it's brain  broccoli if you watch it right.  Yes, it can be simple eye-candy, but if you really think about the themes and the fact that it's a bit autobiographical in respect to Terry Gilliam.  So, go! Watch it.  You've got until my next blog post or you'll continue to do yourself an injustice.

Sweet Dreams!