Government cuts Founders' Building upkeep fund - The Founder

14 The Founder | Wednesday 25 November 2009
E X T R A
Film
The Imaginarium of
Doctor Parnassus
Up
Rob Wallis
Okay, let’s get the major issues out
of the way: No, Doctor Parnassus
is not former Python Terry
Gilliam’s best film - that honour is
reserved for Brazil, Orwell’s 1984
via German Expressionism and
Salvador Dali; nor is it the late
Heath Ledger’s defining performance
- whether you prefer Brokeback
Mountain’s closeted cowboy or
the psychopathic philosophy of the
Joker in The Dark Knight, both are
far more worthy of praise. Nonetheless,
if you’re not looking for an
instant classic then there is plenty
here to enjoy.
The eponymous Doctor Parnassus
(Christopher Plummer), an
immortal mystic turned jaded alcoholic,
tours with his travelling show
around the shadowy backstreets
and docksides of modern-day
London. His troupe is comprised of
the diminutive yet truculent Percy
(Verne Troyer), the over-eager Anton
(Andrew Garfield) and Parnassus’
daughter, the elfin, passionate
Valentina (Lily Cole). However, as
her sixteenth birthday approaches,
Valentina remains unaware that
her soul is soon to become the
property of gravel-throated, pencilmoustached
Mr. Nick (Tom Waits)
as payment for her father’s Faustian
“deal with the Devil”.
While the Imaginarium itself
– the magical world generated by
Parnassus in which your imagination
becomes reality – has generated
much interest, the $45 million
budget and copious CGI is not
enough to effectively replicate the
hallucinogenic dreamscapes that
were doubtless floating around
inside Gilliam’s head, although
you can’t fault the man for trying.
Indeed, the travelling show is occasionally
reminiscent of his Monty
Python animations, possessing the
same brand of anarchic wit and
knack for abstract symbolism. It is,
somewhat understandably, the atmospheric
and gloomy ‘real world’
to which one feels a connection;
here the events feel less contrived,
more honest, and it is here that
we first meet the enigmatic Tony
(Ledger).
A charming, if sleazy, Cockney
vagabond hiding a dark secret,
Ledger’s character is charismatic
and engaging, but never to the
extent of some of his more memorable
performances. Fortunately,
despite rumours to the contrary, he
is present for almost half the film,
which will please those yearning
to indulge in every last second of
screen time of a man who may well
have become a cinematic legend.
If Brokeback was his East of Eden,
Dark Knight his Rebel Without A
Cause, then Doctor Parnassus is
Ledger’s Giant: a burgeoning epic
full of interesting characters and a
deeply thematic piece, but one in
which the players are more ciphers
than human beings. As soon as
the cast pass through the magic
mirror, it becomes difficult to focus
on the reality - or lack thereof - of
their situation. Despite this, it is
the alternate faces we see of Tony
when he enters these worlds (made
a necessity by Ledger’s untimely
death mid-shoot) that provide possibly
the most genuine view of the
character, as well as giving some
sub-textual weight to the piece.
The nature of identity is explored,
with Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and
Colin Farrell all bringing their
own individual talents and styles
to the portrayal of Tony. There is
some irony, however, in Parnassus
lamenting the death of the public’s
imagination, when Gilliam himself
has seemed to indulge celebrity and
artificiality in this film.
Doctor Parnassus is evidently
a labour of love, a testament to
artistic integrity, but is too loose in
its affections. The story is convoluted
and obtuse, the characters are
flighty and unpredictable, and there
is an over-reliance on elaborate set
pieces as plot devices. Plummer
plays his familiar plummy rascal to
great aplomb [Shameful, shameful
pun. Ed.] and Waits is incandescent
as the chain-smoking, bowlerhatted
Devil, but both are all too
evident allegories of Gilliam’s many
battles against studio interference.
There is admirable support from
Cole, fey and lovely as Valentina,
Garfield, awkwardly heroic as her
would-be love interest, and Troyer,
an acid-tongued Sancho Panza
to Parnassus’ Quixote. Ironically,
the problem at hand is an overabundance
of imagination; what
this film needed was a larger degree
of focus, perhaps a more ruthless
editor.
The cinematography jumps from
bleak to saccharine, and the mood
wanders between farce and tragedy.
Doctor Parnassus big and often
crass, a polished mess of a movie,
but even so one leaves the cinema
with a sense of wonderment at its
sheer ambition. Though rambling
and self-indulgent, Doctor Parnassus
is nevertheless a memorable
piece of cinema, and a rather enjoyable
one at that.
Boyana Draganova
So far, Pixar has been appreciated
by children and adults worldwide
with classics like Finding Nemo,
Monsters Inc. and Toy Story, and
now with its latest addition, the
stakes may be set too high for any
successor to overcome. Directed
by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson,
Up is one of those movies that will
gather the children around each
time it is being played, while the
parents will be pretending to be doing
grown-up things while secretly
taking part in the excitement as
well.
The opening scenes of the movie
immediately enchant the viewer
with the Pixar trademark plot
simplicity mingled with endearing
characterization and brilliant
animation. We follow young Carl
Fredricksen as he becomes an eager
adventurer, inspired both by the
cinematic example of an already
accomplished explorer and his
friendship with the equally, if not
more adventurous, Ellie, whom he
later goes on to marry.
The loving couple stays inseparable
throughout their teenage and
conjugal life, but are befallen by
numerous hardships, including the
inability to raise enough money to
realise their dream adventure of living
in Paradise Falls, South America.
In just one melody, composer
Michael Giacchino manages to
take the viewer through one of the
most heart-wrenching sequences
witnessed in recent cinema, while
retaining an unmistakable feeling
of love and hope. The music plays
an integral part throughout the
movie, flowing so perfectly with the
emotional content each scene that
it is impossible to stay unaffected as
the story unfolds.
Inspired by his wife and his own
former spirit of adventure, Carl
invents an ingenious way to escape
the woeful destiny of the retirement
home which threatens the scant
comfort he has left: by attaching
thousands of helium balloons to the
fireplace, he takes off, house and
all, towards South America. The
scene of the old man’s departure
is definitely one of Pixar’s golden
moments as the house soars beautifully
between sky-scrapers to the
explainable amazement of onlookers.
Unbeknownst to Carl, however,
Russell, an irrepressible boy-scout
has also come along for the ride,
and as time goes by he realises that
both of them will have to help each
other to overcome the seen and
unforeseen challenges waiting for
them on this epic journey.
In the picturesque jungle wonderland
of Paradise Falls, many
an unexpected creature makes an
appearance, including the incredibly
fast multicoloured bird Kevin
and the charmingly honest talking
dog, Dug. Fascinating to witness is
how the simple dialogue and subtle
animation in this movie succeeds in
speaking volumes, weaving subtle
subtexts into the layers of the story
and leaving many things purposefully
left unsaid. Just when you least
expect it, the film rests for a moment
on a landscape scene, displaying
images so beautiful and powerful
it will leave you wishing that
these are the colours and shapes the
real world were made out of. Not to
mention that behind the more or
less innocent connotations of the
film, there is a serious suggestion
to themes prevalent in our modern
society, such as the pouching of
endangered animal species, the gap
in both age and culture between
older and younger generations, and
the faceless domination of capitalism
over real human values. Thus,
exciting adventures and depth of
meaning come together to form a
truly entertaining motion picture
for people of all ages.
All in all, Up is a movie which
opens up offers something breathtaking
and new – a truly marvellous
discovery. Having got this year’s
Cannes Film Festival off to a flying
start, the film’s conclusion was met
with a standing ovation from the
enthusiastic audience. Without a
doubt, this is one of those films that
will keep the smile on your face
long after the credits roll.
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