Robin Brown

It’s probably not unfair to suggest that Terry Gilliam’s latest film – The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus – has benefited from the premature death of Heath Ledger in the same way that The Dark Knight did.

Which isn’t to say that The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus wouldn’t have been keenly anticipated had it not featured the combined talents of Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell filling in for Ledger.

Terry Gilliam films are always events worth savouring, though he’ been out of form for some time by my reckoning. Ledger’s involvement had apparently meant a sizeable budget for Doctor Parnassus, and there’s an eclectic and talented cast.

So, is Doctor Parnassus a return to form? Nope, but then again it’s hard to say what Terry Gilliam on form is all about. Even Brazil, Baron Munchausen and Fear and Loathing are rambling, confusing and slightly unsatisfying.

But you don’t go to the cinema to see a Terry Gilliam film expecting a tightly-plotted self-contained small-scale story, and I wouldn’t want to.

Gilliam is one of the true remaining auteurs still making mainstream films, the creator of a unique and instantly recognisable canon.

And Parnassus is perhaps the ultimate example of his unique storytelling. It’s a film that’s typically disjointed and badly-paced. It’s confusing and it’s less than the sum of its parts.

However, all of the little aspects that make up the film are wonderful: perfect performances from Ledger, Tom Waits and Christopher Plummer; London recast as a modern fairly-tale wonderland; the brilliant absurdity of the main antagonist played by four different leading men; and the typically bonkers visuals.

It’s all classic Gilliam, even down the unlikely British character actors and the Pythonesque animation.

Ultimately the film doesn’t really make any sense at all. It’s part classic fairy tale, part modern moral parable – with all the attendant problems that suggests. Its stop-start pacing is annoying and some of the performances don’t work.

But I loved it. It’s as flawed, if not more so, than most Terry Gilliam films. But it’s such a joy to see movies like Parnassus on the big screen in a world drowning in the diminishing returns of shit action films, rom coms and ironic remakes.

I also felt that the film served as a much better epitaph to Ledger, who was never afraid to take risks on weird films, than the almost nihilistic Dark Knight.

The ‘From Heath Ledger and Friends’ strapline at the end of the film was touching and appropriate, and I though Parnassus did him proud.