Review of Tideland (2005) by Hugo S — 11 Mar 2008

TIDELAND (2006).

Directed by Terry Gilliam.

Starring Jodelle Ferland, Brendan Fletcher, Janet McTeerPoor Terry Gilliam, first his Don Quixotte project falls appart, then he has trouble making The Brothers Grimm and now this, a terrible movie with no plot or even sense. He used to be a terrific director and has a lot of great titles in his filmography, such as Brazil, The Fisher King and Twelve Monkeys. What happened to you Terry ? Why cant you make something good again ?Tideland is about a little girl who lives in her own fantasy world, very much like the one in Pan's Labyrinth but there is no social commentary or any message at all for that matter in the former Monthy Python's film.The film makes no sense, its filled with weird moments, non-flat camera angles and lots and lots of lenghts. It tries to hard being strange without telling any real story and it becomes boring pretty quickly. Jeff Bridges plays the little girl's dad, an heroin addict, he looks like The Dude from The Big Lebowski but it doesnt feel like he cares about playing his character, he only recites his lines to get his paycheck at the end of the day. Jennifer Tilly as a small cameo part early on in the film, she overacts and is annoying. Janet McTeer, pretty much the same. Brendan Fletcher tries to hard to become credible as the mentally challenged dude who likes explosions. Jodelle Ferland, the little girl from Silent Hill is the only good thing about this film, she totally understands what she needs to do to make her character believable and she gives a pretty amazing performance.Tideland is supposed to be quirky and all but when it ended my brother asked me what it was about and I could only answer this, «I dunno.» Too bad for Gilliam, another miserable failure.