Review of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) by Sarah B — 22 May 2011

Kudos to Gilliam for getting this film finished, and making it make some sort of sense, but it was always going to be overshadowed by the tragedy of Ledger's death. Its ambition is commendable, its visuals typical of Gilliam but impressive and the story intriguing even if you're unsure entirely what's going on.

However there are three really good actors in this film and unfortunately none of them is Ledger; it's tempting to read too much into it, but he is clearly struggling with something which affects his performance.

Nor is it the ever reliable Christopher Plummer, the incredible dancing Johnny Depp or the other Tonys Colin Farrell and Jude Law. It's Lily Cole who is absolutely enchanting, it's the suitably bizarre Tom Waits and it's Andrew Garfield who steals every scene he's in.

You saw him here first, before the Facebook film, before Never Let Me Go and before Spidey. Oh and Paloma Faith is good too, watch out for her.