Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus screened at Cannes and the reviews are out. Here’s Entertainment Weekly‘s, Variety‘s and the Hollywood Reporter‘s. Heath Ledger died while working on this (Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell stepped in to finish his role) and apparently the first time you see him in the movie is as a corpse. Yikes.
The plot sounds intriguing but also confusing. I’m not a huge fan of Gilliam’s oeuvre and the movie doesn’t have a U.S. release date yet but I’ll probably see it when it does arrive so I can pay tribute to Ledger’s work. Will you?
15 Comments
Poncho
May 22, 2009 at 2:36 pmOf course I’ll see it. I’ve been a fan of Ledger ever since A Knight’s Tale and I was mesmerized by the way he grew on each role he took…
I can’t wait ’til the movie comes here to Mexico.
popculturenerd
May 23, 2009 at 10:38 amMy husband (who’s a casting director) and I play this game—when we see a new standout performer in a movie or TV show, we’ll mark them for future stardom by saying, “I call __________ as a future star” and see how often we get it right.
We both called Heath Ledger after seeing him in 10 Things I Hate About You. Sometimes we disagree on who we pick but there was no arguing that Ledger would be big. The movie was mediocre but he burned up that screen with his charisma. We went to see A Knight’s Tale in the theater on opening day because of Ledger (well, we also love Queen and they used “We Will Rock You” for all the promos). I’m still sad about his death.
EireGo
May 23, 2009 at 11:40 amI LOVED Knights Tale! Swore Paul Bettany was going to be a bigger star.
le0pard13
May 22, 2009 at 6:14 pmI’ve alway run hot and cold with regard to Gilliam, even within the same movie. But, I’m curious about this movie. Do you know the U.S. release date, PCN? Thanks for the post.
popculturenerd
May 23, 2009 at 10:24 amThere’s no U.S. release date yet (I don’t think they have a U.S. distributor) but once it’s announced, I’ll let you know.
ScriptPimp
May 23, 2009 at 11:27 amI know what you mean regarding Gilliam. He’s hit or miss for me as well. Probably will go though.
Shelley P
May 23, 2009 at 12:46 amThanks for the heads up and links, PCN! I’d like to see it, even if it grows curiouser and curiouser as it goes along. {Heck, I’m still watching Lost, so this should be a picnic.} And finding a credible path to completion after the sad departure of Heath Ledger seems an amazing feat to me.
popculturenerd
May 23, 2009 at 11:21 amLost lost me after season 4. I’d invested so much of my time and felt the writers weren’t rewarding me with any answers, only more questions piled on top of existing questions. Perhaps one day when it’s all over, you’ll have to explain it all to me!
I’ll probably be just as confused by this movie but I want to see Ledger’s final performance and what the three other actors did with the role. Have we ever had so many talented people play one part in the same movie?
Julien
May 25, 2009 at 9:24 amI’ll definitely see it too as a big Ledger fan!
The movie may look a bit confusing right now, but I’m sure it will be at least a good one. (So many great actors…It can’t be really bad!)
PCN, think of Todd Hayne’s “I’m not there”, where kind of the same part was played by Heath Ledger (him again!), Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere and Ben Wishaw!
Brillant team, right?
Hope both of you girls are ok!
See ya!
popculturenerd
May 25, 2009 at 10:22 amYou’re absolutely right, Julien! I love how if I ask a question, someone out there will know the answer.
By the way, didn’t the movie version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo open over there a couple weeks ago? Have you seen it?
READER#9
May 23, 2009 at 11:24 amI’m going, I know that much.
Julien
May 26, 2009 at 12:16 pmThanks for asking smart questions, PCN!
It enables me to feel smart whenever I can answer to them! 😉
Well, girl, when it comes to movies, you never miss a trick! I’m impressed!
The movie adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s first volume was actually released here 2 weeks ago. For the French market, they simply called it “Millenium, the movie” after the name of the whole trilogy.
I’ve not seen it yet, but I will, sooner or later, and of course I will let you know my opinion about it!
At least, I can tell you that the reviews are quite enthusiastic, and the movie also ranks high at the bow office (2nd behind “Angels & demons” for its 1st week, and still 4th this week behind “Night at the museum 2”, “Angels & demons” and Almodovar’s “Los abrazos rotos”), a record for a Danish-Swedish film!
By the way, did you keep up with our prestigious Film Festival of Cannes last week?!
popculturenerd
May 27, 2009 at 12:56 amHi Julien,
It’s good to hear Millenium, the Movie (what shall they call the sequel?) is getting good reviews and doing well at the box office. I can’t wait to see it but have no idea when it’ll open here. I will await your thoughts.
Yes, I have been following the Cannes festival. Here’s my post about it.
Julien
May 27, 2009 at 5:00 pmOh, I missed your post about Cannes, I’m gonna read that right now! 😉
hanna
October 19, 2009 at 9:38 amthe film is great but made me cry 🙁
i would recomend it, heath ledger’s film should be lived.