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The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)
The Imaginarium of Terry Gilliam
Terry Gilliam is fascinated by the power of the imagination. In Brazil he presents a Hollywood happy ending that only exists within the protagonist's unconscious mind. With Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, he shows us what the imagination can turn the real world into when under the influence of heavy hallucinogens. With the Fisher King a catatonic homeless man played by Robin Williams hallucinates attacks from a dark knight. In 2005's Tideland, a young girl uses her imagination to escape the horrors of her own life. Now with The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Terry Gilliam once again explores the imagination to its most convoluted and perverse depths. This may be his most surreal work to date.
The plot follows a traveling troupe of, err, entertainers that travel the streets of modern day London in a horse pulled buggy. They are lead by the ancient and immortal Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer). It is out of this buggy that they perform their show, trying to convince people to enter Parnassus' imaginarium. The door to this imaginarium is a shabby mirror, an Alice in Wonderland looking-glass like device. In here they can exist in their own fantasy world where Gilliam lets special effects run wild and anything can and will happen. Those who enter, as is the case with a strong dosage of LSD, don't necessarily have control over this mind-blowing visual extravaganza. The devil, named Mr. Nick and played by an elegant and conniving Tom Waits, lurks inside and tries to fool the visitors into giving up their souls.
Over half the film takes place outside the mirror. While not inside Parnassus' imaginarium, these 'modern' streets are still a product of Gilliam's own imaginarium, shot using his traditional wide-angle lens. Heath Ledger, dressed in a white tux and an A Clockwork Orange-esquire mask, persuades middle-aged and elderly women to jump on stage and partake in the show. The devil still lingers, following the troupe and making bets and playing games with Parnassus over the possession of the doctor's daughter. Parnassus is joined by his very voluptuous 16-year-old offspring, a street kid who loves her, and a little person named Percy, played nicely by Vernon Troy. Percy is not a midget, but he is apparently immortal like Parnassus, though unlike with Parnassus, Gilliam does not explain why this is.
To many, Gilliam's lack of cohesive plot structures are often frustrating. To me cinema is a visual art before anything else. The visuals in Parnassus, both the bright Mushroom Kingdom-like CGI world of the imaginarium and the modern-baroque Gilliam set design of 'the real world', are undeniably wonderful. I felt the characters and the plot, half-baked as they are, were interesting enough to keep me into it even during the most extravagant of scenes. Gilliam may no longer have anything to say, as he did in his earlier films (see Brazil). All he has tried to do here is create a work of surrealist escapism, and at least for me, it worked. In the theater I was completely absorbed into Gilliam's ever-expanding imagination, and 3-D glasses and a $300 million budget were not needed to do it.
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Los abrazos rotos (2009)
Almodovar ends the decade in style
Not since Rainer Werner Fassbinder has a director been so adept at making strange, dark melodramas as is Pedro Almodóvar. 'Broken Embraces', his latest, bookends a decade of brilliance which began with the masterpiece 'All About My Mother' and never let up. Almodóvar, like Fassbinder, is excellent at building complex characters and sending them through emotional and physical hell resulting from human cruelty or mere bad luck. The characters in 'Broken Embraces' run into a lot of both.
The film begins with a blind movie director named Harry Caine having an encounter with an attractive young lady he had just met. A blind man and a visual artist, like a deaf Beethoven, he asks her to describe exactly what she looks like before they make love. His producer enters shortly after and expresses contempt for such random encounters. He brushes it off, explaining that he has been to hell already and now he just wants to enjoy life to the fullest. We sense that there is more to her disapproval than exists on the surface and we are right. Almodóvar makes this certain, though with great subtlety. It is not till late in the film that we learn the full depth of their relationship. This is always key to Almodóvar's work. There is almost always a darker truth lurking below the surface of every conversation.
The heart of the film lies of course on Almodóvar's great muse, the fantastic Penelope Cruz. Cruz plays Lena, a mistress to an obsessive business tycoon. When he learns of her affair with the director of a film she is starring in, he goes to whatever lengths needed to stop from losing her. Cruz is the most beautiful star on the big screen today. At one point she is dressed up like a far more voluptuous Audrey Hepburn. Almodóvar sees her as a golden age Hollywood starlet, and shoots her accordingly. I was mesmerized every time she was on the screen. Almodóvar, a gay man, caresses her with his camera. He shoots her with more admiration and lust than any straight, sex-driven Hollywood director could ever manage. Almodóvar is gay, but unlike his protagonist, he surely is not blind.
Like a subdued Wes Anderson,Almodóvar decorates every shot with strong primary colors. Like 'Volver', it is not as outrageous or Fellini-esquire as some other Almodóvar pictures. However his signature is on every frame. When it is not Penelope Cruz' face decorating the screen, it is the streets of Madrid or the gorgeous beaches of Lanzarote, which serve not just as eye-candy, but as a strong emotional connection to the characters. I felt that 'Broken Embraces' burned out a little bit in the end. Admittedly, I really need to see it again, it is far to complex for one viewing. It is not as strong as 'All About My Mother', 'Bad Education'or even its predecessor 'Volver'. However there are individual moments, especially involving Cruz' performance, that are as good as anything Almodóvar has ever shot.
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Chop Shop (2007)
Brilliant Neo-Realism
Chop Shop, the second feature from Ramin Bahrani, is a rare breed. It is an American film that tells a story not usually found in American cinema, the story of the of a minority living in poverty. It is a work of simple beauty. Shot on location in Queens, New York in the shadows of Shea Stadium, Chop Shop is neo-realism to the core. Featuring a cast of non-actors, it has more in common with Vittorio De Sica's classic Bicycle Thieves than anything made in the United States. There is no score or soundtrack, all the music and sounds are diagetic. Watching it feels like watching a great foreign film, it takes us to another world because it is so uncommon to see. However this other world is not post-World War II Rome or Istanbul or New Delhi, it is contemporary New York City.
Bahrani tells the story of Alejandro (Alejandro Polanco), better known as Ale. He is a 12-year-old Latin-American kid with no parents or family unit to watch after him. He lives in a tiny room upstairs in the auto shop that he also works at. He shares the same bed with his teenage sister Isamar (Isamar Gonzales). Neither of them have made it passed second grade. Ale, though young, is tough and mature. He acts as the head of the small family. He hooks his sister up with a job, and he himself does anything he can to make a buck when not working at the chop shop. He sells bootleg DVDs on the streets and candy in subways. He searches for scrap auto parts and sells them to the many auto shops lining the street where he lives.
Alejandro is heartbroken when he learns his sister is working nights as a prostitute. He himself becomes progressively disinterested in abiding by the law. He begins to steal, first car parts and later wallets. Like Antonio, the desperate protagonist in Bicycle Thieves, we cannot blame Ale for becoming a thief. It is merely survival. Ale and Isamar save up in hopes of buying a food vending van for $4,500. They see the van as their way out, and there is much optimism. However, as is usually the case in neo-realism, we know this will only lead to disappointment.
Polanco's riveting performance is what gives legitimacy to Chop Shop's realism. Here is a 12-year-old character that needs to be believably independent and vulnerably naive. Whether he is directing cars to the shop, selling movies and Snickers bars or playing with his sister in their scanty room, it is authentic.
Chop Shop is a sobering reminder that not all American children grow up in a land of opportunity. Ale's lifestyle is what many in middle-class white America consider 'third world'. They act cognizant the poverty and deprivation in foreign lands while sipping their coffee and reading the New York Times on Sunday morning, but make themselves blind to it on their own streets. Once you watch Chop Shop, you will think differently of the kids peddling candy on the subway.
more reviews at www.mediasickness.com