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Movie Review - "Tideland"


“Have you ever seen anything like this on celluloid?” I kept asking myself this question throughout the runtime of the movie. Terry Gilliam’s Tideland is an elegy to the art; it is something of the director’s mortal brilliance. The movie is the product of his brilliance gagging at him to the point of breakdown, and it appears that Gilliam has stripped all of the virtues of his previous movies and presented what was minimal. The art of minimal is what you get in Tideland.

The movie is about a child who is fascinated with Alice from the wonderland, and so, paints her reality with wonderland brushes. She loses her father, meets a rather eccentric woman and her deranged brother. The woman with one blind eye disembowels the father’s body, stitches it up later to preserve the skeleton. Now this is an odd movie.

There are shades of “fear and loathing” in this movie. Although the movie is frighteningly absurd, it is enchanting at times, for the viewer is expectant. You will stay expectant, if you have had the exposure of Gilliam before. Otherwise the movie is virtually unwatchable, for it offers nothing to the viewer, and almost teases your obedience for sitting through the two hours long movie.

The deranged is the sea captain, the dolls are imposing, the eccentric lady is frantic, and the tall grass is alluded to the tides in a hypnotic world that can only be described as a forgotten village. Is there magic in the move? Is it visually appealing? Is it for children? Is it for the intelligent audience? It is none of these and is hard to follow if you, the viewer has never had the occasion of witnessing the charming elegance of Gillam’s work.
Yes, the movie is tiring and endlessly boring. Perhaps, I won’t revisit it at all. Perhaps I will try and conceive it in my mind rather than read about it somewhere else. Something is of miss in the movie. It is too bland for Gillam’s talent. Or perhaps, I missed the moments completely, for I was out of tune or was not so much of an intricate observer that I thought I was.

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