With that said, I have no idea what Imaginarium is about. Oh, I know, dealing with the devil and imagination, but questions like "What are the choices about?", "What does the Imaginarium represent?", "Was there a protagonist, or did I miss that?" are all fairly central and left largely unexplained. This is most frustrating.
It's a decidedly odd film, and nothing like as accessible as Mr Gilliam's previous efforts, but despite the issues I did like it. It was very strange and charming. It reminded me of dreams, a series of interconnected and impressive sequences that don't quite fit together upon reflection. It also reminded me an awful lot of The Storyteller, which was a pretty awesome show. I should definitely go watch that.
The performances too are worthy of note. The late Heath Ledger further proving he is a loss to the profession, but his passing did give way to perhaps the films main draw: several big name actors acting as Heath Ledger acting as his character. It could only really be a Gilliam picture. Tom Waits puts in a fine turn as the Devil himself. Gilliam stalwart Christopher Plummer is equally excellent and Lily Cole was truly surprising as the ethereal Valentina.
The thing that stuck me most about the whole affair were the special effects. Inside "mirror world" is largely CGI, while everything outside is sets and costumes and models, smoke and mirrors, and while the computer stuff was fairly interesting, the real effects were atmospheric, creative and wholly magical. It's not very often you see both used well, being so strongly contrasted, and I think the film stands as a really solid case for leaving CGI alone as much as is feasibly possible. It is generally cheaper to whip things up inside a machine, so maybe in the last few years of cinema a lot of practical effects would not have been practical otherwise, but often it's used for the sake, which I feel is horrible misuse when the alternative is strictly superior. Yeah, I'm looking at you Lucas.
No comments:
Post a Comment