Wednesday, October 23, 2013

"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" (movie) - Updated


"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" further extends Cat's perfect score in movie recommendations and the purpose in writing my thoughts on them is you also may not have seen the movie.  It's a complex story and it may not grab you immediately but it will.

The imagery in Terry Gilliam movies is so extraordinary that it's almost pointless to compare it to work by any other movie maker or even to his own work.  One of the few exceptions is "The Wall" from Pink Floyd but even that doesn't match the Imaginarium and it's all the more incredible an achievement as the imagination isn't fantasy; Gilliam invented all of it and he is the real world Imaginarium.

- Edited to remove erroneous statement that Heath Ledger died from an accident with a prop gun.  I had him mixed up with someone else.  Thanks to jsmn for the information.  (Wiki:  Jon-Erik Hexum) -

Cat knows I love Gilliam's work and we were talking about that yesterday when I told her "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" is one of the few I didn't really appreciate.  That can only mean one thing:  I'm missing something.  I must watch it again.  "Time Bandits" is another that I couldn't quite get so I must add that to my list as well.  Both had strong influences from Monty Python which really didn't grab me too much ... but I must be missing something.

Something I noticed was that Amy Gilliam was one of the producers.  I wonder if she is his wife, daughter, or someone unrelated.  If she is his daughter, what a daunting thing to grow up within the world he has created and what an immense task to define herself beyond that.  (Update - jsmn also confirmed that Amy Gilliam is Terry Gilliam's daughter.  Most interesting.  I write these offline when I can't search Google.)

Lest you think I'm just deferring to Cat's taste, bag that one.  If I don't like one of her recommendations I will definitely say it.  She doesn't question the authenticity of my thoughts about them but not liking one would make it all the more clear.  It's the same with her thoughts on my music as she's not shy about saying she doesn't like something I've played.

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