Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus

Deb 9 Me 7

Here’s a treat. This is one of those fantasy films and so it somehow isn’t restricted to having a traditional story or plot, it just has to keep you interested. And I stayed interested all the way through. Now I have to admit something right up front; the only reason I went to see the movie was because Tom Waits is in it. I’ll check out anything Tom is up to. With him as bait we went to see a fun little movie.

From the opening scene the screen is filled with bizarre and compelling imagery. It’s really a cool movie to look at, and that’s about all you can do with this kind of movie because there are so many distractions and so many holes in the story that you can’t get involved on that level. I’ve heard that one of the performers passed away while making the film. I don’t know which player it was or if that punched holes in the story or not. But the look of the film was consistent and that seemed to be the most important aspect of the production.

So it’s titillating. It’s fun to watch. Some scenes paid homage to visual artists like Grant Wood and Maxfield Parrish, and references to the fairly obscure Odd Nerdrum was way cool. The real attraction was Waits.

I gave it a 7.

Deb would have given it a 10 except for unanswered questions about the story, and so she gave it a 9. She likes Terry Gilliam movies and talks about his 1985 film Brazil often.

I liked Time Bandits and hated Fisher King. The other movies he made I avoided on purpose, so I guess I’m not a fan.

But we're both Waits fans and both enjoyed the movie.

Crazy Heart

Deb 6 Me 7

It’s always exciting to see yourself on screen. I think that is one of the attractions of movies. An appeal of good filmmaking is that you can find yourself in one of the roles or identifying with a theme in a film. Empathy.

I was not excited about seeing Crazy Heart. I’m not into country music and the previews weren’t particularly interesting. But Jeff Bridges looks like he would be worth hanging with and usually picks good roles, and I heard Robert Duvall was in it, so those were points in it’s favor. T-Bone Burnett has been involved with several quality projects, and what the hell, it’s not supposed to have any violence and it’s two only hours.

So from the get-go it’s pretty much the stereotype western music story of hick bars and broke dick motels, trudging along from one humiliating gig to another. But most of the instruments appear to be in actual sync with the music we’re listening to, there’s a few errors in the beginning of the movie but very convincing playing the rest of the way through. This kind of thing is important to me. It probably shouldn’t be, but it is. Story is what film is all about in my book, and things like out-of-sync musicians and 1975 cars in a 1972 setting distract me from the story and reduce the overall credibility of the film. This one had no disturbing incongruities.

The film follows the Jeff Bridges character through the southwest where he meets musicians, fans and reporters along the way. He is a good-natured guy and drinks quite a bit, he has made a commitment to intoxication and is sticking with it. I liked the guy; there were a lot of scenes that I felt were portraits of me back in the day. Although I never set foot on stage, the wandering around and drinking a little more than possible struck a familiar note with me. I’ve actually peuked in some of the same towns mentioned in the movie. Good times.

The film inspires good conversation about relationships. Man and woman, man and child, man to man, man to his past, present and future, a man and his bottle. The film seems to be an earnest, credible tale and is told with a minimum of story holes. Deb found it to be predictable; I saw things coming that didn’t arrive so my predictions were in vain. It’s beautifully shot, which helps romanticize his boozing and I liked the directing. There actors were involved even when in the background. It has a Hollywood feel to it, I figure it’s going after a mainstream audience.

Deb found it predictable and doesn’t like watching alcoholics for entertainment. She gave it a 6.

I felt like it was almost autobiographical and rated it a bit higher, a 7.