Review of Tideland (2005) by Bobby L — 22 Jun 2010

A bit of a polarizing film, and that's exactly what Gilliam wants. In an introduction he says point blank, "some of you will hate this movie, some of you will love it, and some of you won't now what to think about it, when it's over." He's right, some will hate, some will sit there staring blankly trying to comprehend what just happened, but me, I'm in the lover category.

This is one of his most striking looking films. The lighting is great, and the camera moves as if unhinged from reality, making it quite easy to get into the demented world on screen. The imagined living toy bits are surreal as hell, but look very good, and parts harken back to his Monty Python days, intentional or not.

The acting is really good all the way around, but Jodelle Ferland is the best her, and she needs to be. As the Rose, the main character, also playing a few others, she's stunning. You completely believe her as this child, with a very difficult life, but can unleash everything through her imagination, but does she ever come out of her imaginary world? The ending will leave you with that question, which is how it should be.

It's also a painfully aware exploration of childhood innocence in the face of horrible and abusive situations. In the end with the train the point is made that the little girl is more upset about the fact that things didn't go her own selfish way than by the fact that she is an orphan and people are lying dead around her. She befriends mentally disabled people (plural) not because she's nice and open-minded but because she has no clear reference to how messed up they are. She cannot even recognize death for what it is because it's all too much like heroin.

The fact that all this is done with such style, and showmanship, make it a lot easier to swallow and follow than it might have been otherwise.