Review of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) by Thelordoffilm — 12 Aug 2010

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus will always be remember for being Heath Ledger's last film, because of his timely death three different actor finish it for him and you can tell in the film the craft and dedication to finish it.

Even only it had a better understanding of the plot. The movie begins of an old man named Dr. Parnassus (Christopher Lee) who has a daughter and a midget as a best friend and a street performer. They have an act where they go in the streets and make people pay to go through a mirror where it shows their true self's.

We quickly learn through Parnassus that he made a deal with the devil to gain immortality but any first born child to turn 16 was to be offered to him. The girl, Valentina is about to be 16 in a couple of days.

Parnassus is trying his best to see if he can stop the devil played by Tom Waits. One day while driving they find a man trying to hang him self which is played by Heath Ledger. They rescue him and he happens to lose his memory.

Parnassus thinks it's a trick from the Devil, maybe to do another deal to save his daughter. They use him as a performer in their act. If I keep going with the plot, this review will last forever. The plot is so damn unfocused that I wanted to scream out loud.

The movie has so many ideas packed into one. There's a love story involved with Valentina and one of the street performers named Anton. Then there's Heath Ledger's character that has his own back story and when that comes into the light it's even more confusion.

The narrative left me frustrated and confuse, I couldn't get into it. The movie is very well acted and I have no complaints about that. Every single actor is being true to their character and they do it very well.

I liked how Colin Farrell, Jude Law, and Johnny Depp were there to fill in the shoes of Ledger. The special effects were very good and convincing but like I said before if only the narrative was more properly structured.

The movie is worth to watch because of Ledger he was captivating.