I picked this movie completely blind off the shelf of a Hollywood Video. I was attracted to the surreal image of the lead character sitting in the branches/roots of an inverted tree. The fact that Terry Gilliam was listed as a director sealed the deal for me.
The American reviews of this film I have read have on the most part (by viewers and pro-critics alike) have been pretty merciless... and unenlightened. To heck with 'em. It's one thing to say "hey, I don't like films that involve junkies, sex, retards, young children in physical/emotional peril, and I don't understand surrealism at all" and another to slap potential viewers with annoying, pithy comments like "a mess... horrible" without apparent rhyme or reason.
When I watch movies on DVD, If the director or writers choose to include an intro, I tend to watch them. Gilliam's was intense, concise... and very helpful in understanding the film. I found it striking that he opened this movie saying something to the point of *you may love this movie, or hate it... keep in mind it is from the perspective of being a child... this movie is about the resiliency of a child....*
You know, good ol' Terry wasn't lying. Jeliza-Rose is, indeed, a child. Her intense (to us, as adult viewers), bizarre experiences are created in large part, from interactions with the strange, selfish, and often ugly universes of the adults she is surrounded by. Her parents are useless, childish junkies who not only have their single-digit aged daughter well-trained in preparing/administering their smack (I believe this is where most American viewers got turned off of giving this film any quarter whatsomever...).Later in the film, her adult companions include a simple-minded brother (brilliantly portrayed by Fletcher)and a demented sister (another powerful, intriguing performance)... and of course, the personas the little girl has instilled in her sorry toys.
Gilliam delivers us the world of "Tideland" in sequences of "real life", dream, and a child's imagination. Did any of my fellow American viewers get this? Love, sensuality, loneliness, death... These are things children do experience, but many grownups don't handle very well.
I, personally, kinda dug this movie. I am somewhat squeamish (those junkie scenes really put me off- I hate looking at medical needles), and got a case of the willies from some of the implicit sexual content of the film, but you know what- good art often comes with challenges. The challenge of Tideland is to *see a world through the eyes of a child*
And I did. Go Gilliam!
The American reviews of this film I have read have on the most part (by viewers and pro-critics alike) have been pretty merciless... and unenlightened. To heck with 'em. It's one thing to say "hey, I don't like films that involve junkies, sex, retards, young children in physical/emotional peril, and I don't understand surrealism at all" and another to slap potential viewers with annoying, pithy comments like "a mess... horrible" without apparent rhyme or reason.
When I watch movies on DVD, If the director or writers choose to include an intro, I tend to watch them. Gilliam's was intense, concise... and very helpful in understanding the film. I found it striking that he opened this movie saying something to the point of *you may love this movie, or hate it... keep in mind it is from the perspective of being a child... this movie is about the resiliency of a child....*
You know, good ol' Terry wasn't lying. Jeliza-Rose is, indeed, a child. Her intense (to us, as adult viewers), bizarre experiences are created in large part, from interactions with the strange, selfish, and often ugly universes of the adults she is surrounded by. Her parents are useless, childish junkies who not only have their single-digit aged daughter well-trained in preparing/administering their smack (I believe this is where most American viewers got turned off of giving this film any quarter whatsomever...).Later in the film, her adult companions include a simple-minded brother (brilliantly portrayed by Fletcher)and a demented sister (another powerful, intriguing performance)... and of course, the personas the little girl has instilled in her sorry toys.
Gilliam delivers us the world of "Tideland" in sequences of "real life", dream, and a child's imagination. Did any of my fellow American viewers get this? Love, sensuality, loneliness, death... These are things children do experience, but many grownups don't handle very well.
I, personally, kinda dug this movie. I am somewhat squeamish (those junkie scenes really put me off- I hate looking at medical needles), and got a case of the willies from some of the implicit sexual content of the film, but you know what- good art often comes with challenges. The challenge of Tideland is to *see a world through the eyes of a child*
And I did. Go Gilliam!