‘Imaginarium’ creates a fantastical world
I see a lot of movies in the theater so most of the time the
things I skip and save for DVD or instant play are movies that I
don’t think are worth paying to see for the initial release. For
instance,
”
Gulliver’s Travels,
”
with Jack Black is one I suggested maybe we could wait and rent
from Netflix in a few months.
But there are times when I skip a movie just because there are a
lot of movies out at once and I can’t get to them all. That was the
case with
”
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,
”
a 2009 release and the last film in which Heath Ledger starred
before his unexpected death. I’d heard a bit about the movie while
it was in production and I wanted to see it, but I never got around
to seeing it in theaters.
‘Imaginarium’ creates a fantastical world
I see a lot of movies in the theater so most of the time the things I skip and save for DVD or instant play are movies that I don’t think are worth paying to see for the initial release. For instance, “Gulliver’s Travels,” with Jack Black is one I suggested maybe we could wait and rent from Netflix in a few months.
But there are times when I skip a movie just because there are a lot of movies out at once and I can’t get to them all. That was the case with “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” a 2009 release and the last film in which Heath Ledger starred before his unexpected death. I’d heard a bit about the movie while it was in production and I wanted to see it, but I never got around to seeing it in theaters.
A few months ago when I was looking for a movie to watch at Blockbuster Video, a friend and I picked the movie out since it was one of the few neither of us had seen. The movie is a modern-day fantasy with Christopher Plummer as Doctor Parnassus. The great doctor travels the modern-world with a traveling circus side show that belongs to another era. His daughter Valentina (Lily Cole) travels with him, along with Anton (Andrew Garfield, before his turn in “The Social Network”) and Percy (Verne Troyer.)
Valentina longs for a normal life while Anton longs for Valentina. Doctor Parnassus longs to keep his daughter from learning of a secret pact he made many years ago. Most people believe the Doctor’s Imaginarium into which they step for a few dollars a night is a parlor trick. The Doctor has the power to create an imaginary world that makes people’s dreams come true.
Long ago, he bargained for immortality with the Devil, promising his first-born child, something he thought he would never actually have. But when he met and fell in love with a woman, he traded that immortality to be young again. Though the love of his life did not live long, they had a daughter. In the movie, the time is coming near when Doctor Parnassus must turn his daughter’s soul over to the devil. He is so sick over it, he drinks himself to sleep most nights.
When Anton and Valentina rescue a man who has been strung from a bridge, they bring him along, igniting Doctor Parnassus’ fears that Tony (Heath Ledger) has come to help the Devil collect his daughter. Tony has no memory of who he is and joins up with the side show until he can remember who he is. Valentina is drawn to the mysterious Tony, though Anton is leery of where he might be from and what he is up to.
The charming Tony comes up with some new ways to make money for the dying sideshow. He has them set up shop in a high-class shopping area, then uses his good looks to recruit female clients. They all line up to have their dreams come true and when they come out of the Imaginarium, they are all willing to pay up all the money, jewels and riches they have on hand. But when one of the clients is in the Imaginarium, Tony sees someone he recognizes and ducks inside. It is one of the rules that only one person can be inside at once because one person’s dream can turn into another person’s nightmare.
Once inside the Imaginarium, Tony discovers that he doesn’t look like himself. In fact, the scene is played by Johnny Depp and is the way the filmmakers got around the complication of Ledger’s death before the completion of filming. Whenever Tony enters the Imaginarium, the character is played by a different actor. First it is Johnny Depp, who swaggers through the scenes looking a little like he does as Jack Sparrow in “The Pirates of the Caribbean” series. Next is Jude Law, looking a little more worn than usually with his hair combed back to reveal is receding hairline. Next is Colin Farrell who is as charming as Ledger, but who has an edge of swarthiness about him. Using the three actors made it possible for the filmmakers to use Ledger’s footage without having to reshoot it.
The movie has plenty of twists and was one of the few I’ve seen in recent years that wasn’t predictable partway through. Ledger and Cole work well together on screen, though the other three actors playing the role of Tony didn’t quite live up to it.
