Ledger and friends' 'Imaginarium' a noble misfire
Heath Ledger as Tony.
(Sony Pictures Classics)
The Imaginarium
of Doctor Parnassus
Running time: 122 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13 (profanity, violence, some sensuality, smoking)
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Maybe I, and perhaps we, expected too much from the late Heath Ledger's final film.
After the Australian actor's sudden, tragic death two year's ago, filmmaker Terry Gilliam's feverish effort to complete "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" without his star loomed first as a long shot curiosity then as something Ledger fans could look forward to with hope of one last hurrah.
Ledger, who won a posthumous Supporting Actor Academy Award for his scorching turn as The Joker in "The Dark Knight," had only completed somewhere between a third and half of his scenes as the mysterious Tony in Gilliam's creaky, freakish "Doctor Parnassus." So Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law also pop up in the white coat as Tony.
Friends like that are hard to find. But even in a cinematic garish burlesque show with credits that read "A film from Heath Ledger and friends," the distilled version of "Doctor Parnassus" is, in a few words, a grandiose mess.
At its core is an ongoing bet with the devil. Grumpy, blustery Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer), 15-year-old daughter Valentina (model Lily Cole), the miniature Percy (Verne Troyer) and a young fella named Anton (Andrew Garfield) operate a magical sideshow in modern day London from the back of a rickety horse-drawn wagon.
The Doctor, who's often drunk, claims to be a thousand years old and is. The bearded curmudgeon lost a wager to Beelzebub himself, or Mr. Nick (Tom Waits) as he's called here, sometime in the past. The latest bet will deliver Valentina, who longs for a normal family life, over to the Devil's dark side unless Parnassus can come up with a miracle by Valentina's fast-approaching 16th birthday.
Deal with the devil movies are a dime a dozen. Nicolas Cage rode a stunt motorcycle to hell and back a couple of years ago in "Ghost Rider." Keanu Reeves made the trip and brought a little hell back to Earth with him in "Constantine" in 2005. And that's just a couple of the recent ones.
"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" would probably fill the screen with a macabre-yet-muddled fantasy ride even if Ledger's death hadn't greatly upset the film-making apple cart. Gilliam can't resist including throw-back images from the brilliant, but now vintage British TV series "Monty Python's Flying Circus" into his script.
"Monty Python" fans might enjoy seeing a giant Russian mobster mother with a robotic head that pops off and turns out to be driven by Mr. Nick. Problem is, mental diversions like that take the audience out of the movie at hand. What works better is the mirror, of sorts that Doctor Parnassus has on his show wagon. Those who enter find themselves in an Oz-like world that caters to the wildest imagination.
Several make the transition, including Ledger's Tony, who often becomes Depp, Farrell or Law due to the unfortunate circumstances.
Ledger's final stellar performance turns out to be as The Joker and not as Tony. Gilliam, an often snake-bit filmmaker (the failed "Man Who Killed Don Quixote" project) makes it tough on himself with a mystical script that plods along like the precarious old wagon. The campy special effects are only effective at times. They often look too much like worn out stage costumes pulled from a dusty trunk.
Christopher Plummer has surely come a long way since he played Baron von Trapp opposite Julie Andrews in "The Sound of Music" in 1965. He's hidden behind too much hair and makeup here to fully emote, though. Plummer comes across as one of Harry Potter's Hogwarts professors on a 10-day bender.
I never thought I'd say this, but the most impressive actor to emerge from this noble, sometimes interesting failure is raspy-throated singer Waits as Mr. Nick.
His snaky, sneaky performance as the devil with a pencil-thin mustache is precise and inspired. It's almost as if Waits, who appeared in Gilliam's "The Fisher King," made ...
No, he couldn't have. Could he?
After the Australian actor's sudden, tragic death two year's ago, filmmaker Terry Gilliam's feverish effort to complete "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" without his star loomed first as a long shot curiosity then as something Ledger fans could look forward to with hope of one last hurrah.
Ledger, who won a posthumous Supporting Actor Academy Award for his scorching turn as The Joker in "The Dark Knight," had only completed somewhere between a third and half of his scenes as the mysterious Tony in Gilliam's creaky, freakish "Doctor Parnassus." So Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law also pop up in the white coat as Tony.
Friends like that are hard to find. But even in a cinematic garish burlesque show with credits that read "A film from Heath Ledger and friends," the distilled version of "Doctor Parnassus" is, in a few words, a grandiose mess.
At its core is an ongoing bet with the devil. Grumpy, blustery Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer), 15-year-old daughter Valentina (model Lily Cole), the miniature Percy (Verne Troyer) and a young fella named Anton (Andrew Garfield) operate a magical sideshow in modern day London from the back of a rickety horse-drawn wagon.
The Doctor, who's often drunk, claims to be a thousand years old and is. The bearded curmudgeon lost a wager to Beelzebub himself, or Mr. Nick (Tom Waits) as he's called here, sometime in the past. The latest bet will deliver Valentina, who longs for a normal family life, over to the Devil's dark side unless Parnassus can come up with a miracle by Valentina's fast-approaching 16th birthday.
Deal with the devil movies are a dime a dozen. Nicolas Cage rode a stunt motorcycle to hell and back a couple of years ago in "Ghost Rider." Keanu Reeves made the trip and brought a little hell back to Earth with him in "Constantine" in 2005. And that's just a couple of the recent ones.
"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" would probably fill the screen with a macabre-yet-muddled fantasy ride even if Ledger's death hadn't greatly upset the film-making apple cart. Gilliam can't resist including throw-back images from the brilliant, but now vintage British TV series "Monty Python's Flying Circus" into his script.
"Monty Python" fans might enjoy seeing a giant Russian mobster mother with a robotic head that pops off and turns out to be driven by Mr. Nick. Problem is, mental diversions like that take the audience out of the movie at hand. What works better is the mirror, of sorts that Doctor Parnassus has on his show wagon. Those who enter find themselves in an Oz-like world that caters to the wildest imagination.
Several make the transition, including Ledger's Tony, who often becomes Depp, Farrell or Law due to the unfortunate circumstances.
Ledger's final stellar performance turns out to be as The Joker and not as Tony. Gilliam, an often snake-bit filmmaker (the failed "Man Who Killed Don Quixote" project) makes it tough on himself with a mystical script that plods along like the precarious old wagon. The campy special effects are only effective at times. They often look too much like worn out stage costumes pulled from a dusty trunk.
Christopher Plummer has surely come a long way since he played Baron von Trapp opposite Julie Andrews in "The Sound of Music" in 1965. He's hidden behind too much hair and makeup here to fully emote, though. Plummer comes across as one of Harry Potter's Hogwarts professors on a 10-day bender.
I never thought I'd say this, but the most impressive actor to emerge from this noble, sometimes interesting failure is raspy-throated singer Waits as Mr. Nick.
His snaky, sneaky performance as the devil with a pencil-thin mustache is precise and inspired. It's almost as if Waits, who appeared in Gilliam's "The Fisher King," made ...
No, he couldn't have. Could he?
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