Into the Mind's Eye...

This evening I had a fun night out with some of my girl friends. We went to Chipotle, which is my absolute FAVORITE place to eat. I know it isn't fancy or anything like that, but the food is just really good, and I like the atmosphere. I dunno. Anyways, after dinner we saw a movie. Let me tell you, the movie we saw is now one of my favorite movies and I cannot wait to see it again! (Maybe this post should be titled favorites, instead... Nahh... Now I have an idea for a future post. *Ahem*) To continue... The movie we saw was The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. I won't give an overview of the plot, because I am sure that you can find that easily enough by following the link... But I will give my opinion and some of my thoughts... I have read some negative reviews about the movie, but personally I rather enjoyed it, and I found it to be brilliantly made...



**Spoilers lie ahead. If you don't want to read them, by all means don't! Scroll to the end for my closing thoughts...**

Just my thoughts as they come to me:

~This was a very visually rich movie. There were many things to capture the attention of one's eye, most especially when characters enter the Imaginarium, or their imaginations. The deliciously tactile layers of the costumes and props were just wonderful.

~I loved the sort of grunge feeling of the whole movie. It was set in a kind of slum type area. There was dirt. It wasn't all "glammed up" like a lot of today's movies can be.

~Sadly, this was the very very last movie Heath Ledger was in. He played his role wonderfully well! He passed away about halfway through the production of the movie in January of 2008. Because of this, obviously some changes had to be made. In the "real life" portion of the movie, Ledger played the role of Tony. When he entered the "Imaginarium" the role was played by another actor, differing each time he entered the realm of the imagination. The role being played first by Johnny Depp, second by Jude Law, and finally by Collin Farell was, I believe, an ingenious way of coping with the loss of Ledger. It made you kind of feel that even Tony didn't know who he really was under his concealment, and it added to the fantasy feel that is supposed to happen when one enters the Imaginarium. I think the choice of actors for Tony's roll was excellent, too. They are all four in the same acting universe and have proven extreme talent.

~Honestly, I didn't let the passing of Ledger cloud my perception of the movie. Some said that the fact that he "enters the film with a hangman’s noose around his neck is disconcerting" in light of his death and "there could have been some clever cutting around that"... But the truth is that his character is ever running from the noose, whether figuratively or literally, and to cut his opening scene would have lessened our perception of that, and loosened the plot of the rest of the movie.

**End of spoiler alert**

Many have said that this movie is a throw back to some of director Terry Gilliam's works, so if you enjoy his style, there you go. Not being familiar with any of his previous work, I can neither confirm nor deny this. I can say, however, please do not let my opinion, or the opinion of anyone else deter you from seeing the film! Yes, it is different from what you are probably used to. I strongly believe in forming one's own opinion about things and not relying on others to make up your mind for you.

If you have seen the movie and have anything to add, favorable towards it or no, please feel free to do so in the comments!

"Nothing is permanent, not even death." -Tony