Heath Ledger...every movie buff I know would be heaving a small sigh for that lost talent. Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Firth did too. With clever twists in the story, they took on the role that Heath could not complete due to his death (what better excuse, if I may sound a little uncaring, but again we see the actors worth through his characters, excluding the tabloid crazy side of the public that is)
Written and Directed by Terry Gilliam is attraction enough plus the cast including a very sweet Andrew Garfield as a very sweet young man who works as a busker for the Imaginarium run by Dr. Parnassus, played by Christopher Plummer and a very strange yet alluring Lily Cole as Valentina, his daughter.
The three together with Verne Troyer (which respectable road carnival does not boast of a midget?) travel across London(?) to attract people into the Imaginarium(actually the Dr's mind where dreams come true), with dismal results. Flashback tells us that the Dr. had made a deal with the devil that 20 people would resist temptation in the imaginarium or he would give him his child in 16 years. All in return for youth, to woo his love. Valentina's 16'th birthday is approaching and they haven't got a single soul when they rescue Tony, a man with a questionable past,hanging by the neck, under a bridge. He turns their operation around but at what cost?
The movie is loud, convoluted and full of references, just like the dream sequences it portrays. Some of the scenes look like they come straight out of a painting. (later I discovered they were inspired by paintings) All in all, along with the sympathy that it arouses whenever you see Heath Ledger on screen, it is a decent watch.
6/10
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