Okay, it looks like I am still on my Terry Gilliam month, and this time, it is this film that was released at the end of 2009 and was pretty much ignored. I speak of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Now you think with a title like that, it would inspire much flights of fancy, and trust me, there are many flights to be taken in this film.

The plot of Doctor Parnassus is quite something. It is about a character who is very, very old. He has this magical mirror that will take a person into their own dreams. While in this dreamworld, the user must choose some kind of path for their life. One is to follow the straight and narrow, and the other is down the devil’s broad path.

Parnassus himself has ironically failed in choosing the right path for himself. He fell in love with a mortal woman, he made a deal with the devil to exchange his immortality for youth. Part of this deal was to give up his daughter Valentina, who the devil, or Mr. Nick, will come for on her sixteenth birthday. The only way to reverse the deal is for the good doctor to convert five souls before the devil converts five to his side.

Yeah, that is pretty complicated, and I will have to say that the way the situation is resolved is quite well. Added into this mix is a character named Tony, who is at first played by Heath Ledger. Sadly, the actor died during filming, but the imagination of the script allowed other actors to play this role. Famous actors like Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell take Tony’s place, and there is actually a reason why Tony’s face changes.

I’m not certain if the death of Ledger led to the lack of interest in the film, but it didn’t kill the film, story-wise. There are so many twists and turns in the film, that I honestly didn’t know what direction the film was taking until it hit the end. There is no shortage of visual effects in this 30 million dollar film, and I wished it received more praise then it actually got.