Some film directors have their own unmistakable style. When you mention their names you know exactly what to expect. Terry Gilliam and David Cronenberg are prime examples, although Cronenberg’s A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE was a departure from the norm or, in his case, more of a departure to the norm.
Gilliam’s films are always challenging, in a nice way, both visually and story-wise. Even his big studio pics, such as THE BROTHERS GRIMM, are filled with his trademark eccentricities and a preponderance of wide-angle shots that draw you into the scenes. Gilliam’s latest film, TIDELAND, continues this tradition.
By his own admission, Gilliam says this new film is probably his most challenging film to date, for audiences anyway. He has a history of difficult film shoots, from the complete wash out of DON QUIXOTE to the alleged budgetary excesses of BARON MUNCHAUSEN. The whole debacle surrounding that film is really a matter of interpretation. Yes it went over budget, but making such a visionary film requires a larger budget than was allocated to it. Less interesting films have had much bigger budgets, and even been celebrated for the size of the budgets, and still not made the huge profits the studios expect. It seems Gilliam is victimised because he won’t play by their rules, but we get much better films as a result, but I digress.
Gilliam’s advice for seeing this film is to abandon all your preconceptions and watch it with the awe and wonder of childhood innocence. Not always an easy task for the world-weary and cynical, but it is good advice. Personally, I found the film engaging and humorous, and a little bit weird, but if it wasn’t I would have been disappointed.
In its simplest terms the story is of a young girl, Jeliza-Rose, played by Jodelle Ferland in an incredible performance that carries the film and draws you into her world. The bulk of the story is set in an abandoned house on the prairie lands where her washed-up rock ‘n’ roll father (the always excellent Jeff Bridges in another classic stoner role) grew up and returns to. The film drifts between reality and fantasy as Jeliza-Rose escapes the vast loneliness of her new existence into the fantasy world that exists in her imagination. In this world fireflies have names, squirrels talk, and the heads of four dolls (Mustique, Baby Blonde, Glitter Gal and Sateen Lips), long since separated from their bodies, keep her company, until she meets Dickens (Brendan Fletcher), a mentally damaged young man with the mind of a ten-year-old. Dressed in a wet suit and diving mask, he spends his days hiding out in a junk heap wig-wam turned submarine, waiting to catch the monster shark that inhabits the railway tracks. Then there’s his older sister Dell (Janet McTeer), a tall ghost-like figure dressed in black, who hides behind a beekeeper’s mesh hood.
The sparsity of characters reinforces the open emptiness of the prairie, and their eccentricities underline how easy it is to lose grip with reality in isolation. Although the film examines many themes, from dreams and romance to religion and the resilience of children, its underlying theme is the innocence of childhood. However there is a fine line between innocence and naivety and, to me, Jeliza-Rose tends towards the latter. The events in her life would undermine the pure innocence of childhood. Innocence brings wisdom, naivety tends towards living in a fantasy world, which she does, at the expense of reality. But whether Jeliza-Rose is naïve or innocent is a mute point because, for the sake of the story, they are hard to separate.
As with Gilliam’s previous children’s film (although TIDELAND is not a film for children) TIME BANDITS (celebrating its silver anniversary), it is shot almost entirely from the perspective of a child, with wide angle lenses that keep everything in focus, so you become integrated with the environment – the open spaces feel expansive and the interiors are often claustrophobic.
Despite the apparent divisive nature of the film, I found it infinitely more watchable than FEAR AND LOATHING, even though that film did perfectly capture the drug-addled mania of Hunter S Thompson’s Las Vegas exploits. It may be that I find it easier to relate to Jeliza-Rose’s world, having imaginative children of my own (which isn’t to say I haven’t travelled a little way down the road Hunter S Thompson took).
Definitely go and see the film, and go with an open mind. I don’t see how anybody that likes any of Gilliam’s previous canon could be disappointed. If you can get into one of the preview screenings with Q&As, then it will make the experience that much more enjoyable.
Also look out for Guillermo del Toro’s new film, PAN’S LABYRINTH, due out later in the year, which explores similar themes, but in a Spanish Civil War setting.
To celebrate the release of the film on August 11 we have three copies of the original novel by Mitch Cullin, signed by Terry Gilliam, together with a copy of the original soundtrack CD, courtesy of Revolver Entertainment. Go to the competitions section of the forum for details.
Watch the trailer here: QuickTime | Windows Media Player