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Written by Jim Chudnow
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Wednesday, 21 October 2009 07:32 |
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Director:Terry Gilliam Writers:Terry Gilliam
Charles McKeown Starring:Johnny Depp
Heath Ledger
Colin Farrell
Jude Law
Christopher Plummer
Lily Cole
Tom Waits Quotes:Nothing is permanent, not even death.
Can you put a price on your dreams? Rating: 7.5 out of 10 stars
It has more IMAGINATION than enjoyment...
As it has done in previous years, the Chicago Int’l Film Festival offered a “SURPRISE” movie to anyone coming in with Festival apparel (a clever & nice idea, tho it was a bit unclear from different announcements just what “fit” the definition). The public didn’t know WHAT movie would be shown until it started after an introduction by Fest founder Michael Kutza. When they saw it would be the long-awaited “IMAGINARIUM”, that fact brought hearty applause from those in attendance.
Basically, the meandering (& periodically puzzling) Terry Gilliam story concerns a “contest” between the DEVIL “Mr. Nick” (TOM WAITS) & his “opposite, Dr. Parnassus (CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER) to win five “souls” for their “side” (with the victor securing final control of P’s daughter Valentina).
Parnassus (who’d gotten immortality from Mr. Nick in a wager thousands of years before) runs a sort of old-time traveling “side show”, trying to entice modern-day people into his wagon to go thru his “mirror” into an imaginary & often imaginative -- & frequently frightening – world.
Helping Parnassus are his assistants: Anton, playing “Mercury” in their play (acted by ANDREW GARFIELD); Percy (VERNE TROYER); & Valentina (LILY COLE). They work to save the life of mysterious Tony (HEATH LEDGER in his last role before he died unexpectedly. Then, various of Heath’s friends “FINISH” his role in the “Imaginarium” section at the last half of the film: the # 1 “Transformation” being JOHNNY DEPP, # 2 being JUDE LAW, & # 3 being COLIN FARRELL).
Anton tends to be usually jealous & leery of Tony, in part because his love Valentina seems attracted to him. The devil & Parnassus keep competing for various members of the public, & you see things quasi-“resolved” at the end (with special emphasis on Tony & Valentina).
There are some very IMAGINATIVE aspects to the film, especially a scene with flying mirrors. Considering that 4 people play the part of Tony, the role is “blended” surprisingly WELL (& the acting is decent thruout). The film got NO real applause at the end (whereas numerous “unknown” films received such acclaim at the Festival).
I’m afraid that the overall film will be a “HARD-SELL” to the general public (except on a “cult” level), because, due to the way the story is often CONFUSING and not very funny, it comes across as more CREATIVE than really enjoyable (which is why I rated it as I did).
After I saw the film, I talked briefly to Mr. Kutza, who said the film was like 6 years or so in the making, & he was surprised to see the wide-range of financing involved, particularly from Canadian government agencies (besides UK & French ones).
Checking into the situation on-line, I see the film is scheduled for a LIMITED U.S. release starting December 25th-- altho it’s already been shown at 2009 Film Festivals including Cannes, Munich, Toronto, San Sebastian (Spain), Vancouver, Rome, & set for Sao Paulo, Brazil later in October.
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Written by Jim Chudnow
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Tuesday, 20 October 2009 15:00 |
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A Frozen Flower (Ssang-hwa-jeom) Director: Ha Yu Writer: Ha Yu Starring:Jin-mo Ju
Ji-hyo Song
In-seong Jo
In-beom Ko
Tae-won Kwon
Ju-hwan Lim
Ji-hyeon Min
Ji-ho Shim
Wook-hwan Yeo A “Budding” problem Blossoms into huge BATTLES. Rating: 8.5 of 10 stars. Showing 10-11 @ 2:15 PM & 10-13 @ 8:30 PM Korean films used to be an “after-thought” in world cinema. But, developments in recent years have let to increased respect & recognition for the increasingly-wide variety, quality & output from there (as shown by the 2009 Jury Prize win at Cannes for the movie “Thirst”).
When we think of widely-expansive epic films from Asia, we normally tend to recall various Chinese & some Japanese films. I think you can now add Korea as deserving to be on that list. This film has sweeping scope, epic battles, great scenery & settings, beautiful costumes & a truly effective & affecting “pot-boiler” that will “stick” with you:
The setting is the Goryeo kingdom in the 13th century (& partly based on a reported true story). A young king (JOO JIN-MO) -- the 31st in his line -- has been forced to marry a woman from the powerful Yang kingdom to cement relationships, but the couple has not been able to conceive the needed male successor. Part of that is due to the fact that the king has more of a romantic interest in a young man named Hong (ZO IN-SUNG) who he’s named to be Chief of his Guards. The talented Hong is deeply devoted to the king, returns his romantic feelings, & the whole situation is a badly-kept non-secret in many quarters (especially those of the Royal Guards).
Many nobles are emboldened to try to oust the king for their own ends, & this leads to many finely-done, impressively-choreographed BATTLE scenes with swords, arrows, etc. While the king & Hong are both accomplished warriors & musicians, it’s apparent that an “heir-line” must be formed to secure the Kingdom. Thus, the king comes up with a plan to utilize the only man he trusts – Hong – to “hook-up” with the queen & try to provide a male heir that can be claimed as the King’s. This turns out to be a very BAD idea, due to massively unexpected consequences of the reactions by the Queen (SONG JI-HYO) & Hong.
The other King’s Guards are unsure who to follow as a proper leader, there are more PLOTS against the King involving groups from other Kingdoms (including a relative of the Queen), & you thus have a “dim-(rising)-sum” of increasing problems & after-effects. The unusual thing is, the strange-sounding story really “WORKS”-- it’s believable, you grow to have CONCERN about the participants, & the outcome becomes Opera-like in its stunning conclusion. It’s a beautiful, action-filled movie, wonderfully filmed & a real surprise.
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