Tideland
Jeliza-Rose: Squirrel butts don't glow.
I'm not sure if I would necessarily place this as Gilliam's darkest film, it was, for me, his most unsettling. And yet, much like many of his films, I still remained, very much, fascinated by it.
There has always been a kind of fanciful barrier between us and the Grimm Fairy Tale-like stories that are the blood flow of his films. Not here. It was stripped away, Placing us in the barren lands besides our "Alice" instead of at a safe, fantastical distance. What would be metaphorical symbolism are, instead, stark realities. Madness is not amusing eccentricities but dangerous mental illnesses. Creating an uneasiness, and at quite a few times, very palpable trepidation at what may occur next.
The safety net as been snatched away and the high wire - cut.
This is, in very equal proportions, the film's Achille's Heel and it's brightest, shining light.
I have continually enjoyed Terry Gilliam's films throughout his career post-Monty Python as he delved into his own, beginning with
Time Bandits when it premiered at the movies when I was a Junior in High School. I would continually view his films as they came out from then on. Rewatching many of them. Gilliam has a deep love for both the fantastical but also for the darker imaginings of the splintered mind adorned in the fanciful.
Should he have continued with the formula; specifically the fanciful with this film?
I don't think so.
And even though I was continually uneasy throughout my viewing, I must applaud the means to the end of this dark adventure set in modern times.
I saw a review on IMDb that spoke of an opening, in B&W, much like the one in the 1930's Frankenstein, featuring Terry Gilliam informing us that "we may find the movie shocking, but that it should be seen as through the eyes of a child -- innocent."
An excellent note on how to view the film.
The version I watched did not have that and there is a part of me that was glad to be flung down the "rabbit hole" without any safety. It does give me an added appreciation after the fact.