mirror mirror

Tarsem Singh's Mirror Mirror had a lot of potential to be more fun than it was. A Bollywood-like closing number captured the essence of what the film could have been — fanciful, colorful, silly — a cute update of Snow White. There was just one kink in its armor — Julia Roberts. In what must have seemed a coup at casting time, getting an A-list actress to pull in a big audience, unfortunately ended up being a huge miscasting that threatened to sink the film at every turn of the Queen's voluminous hoop skirts.

Julia Roberts, overwhelmed by costumes and character

Mirror Mirror apparently didn't even need to be made in the first place. According to New York Magazine's Vulture column,

“Relativity's decision not to co-finance Snow White and the Huntsman with Universal and instead make their own film to compete with [them] wasn't a wise decision.” Given the limited-to-youth appeal of the Mirror Mirror trailer when compared with Huntsman’s darker, racier, and visually stunning materials, “people are waiting for that ‘Snow White’ film.”

Snow White and the seven dwarves

It doesn't help Mirror Mirror that ABC's much-watched television series Once Upon A Time, with its Snow White/Evil Queen conflict at its heart, is much more compelling viewing than this Roberts vehicle. Why should folks rush out to see this movie? They shouldn't and didn't. The Hunger Games once again dominated the box office last weekend while Mirror Mirror took 3rd place and $19 million — not much considering its over $85 million budget.

As the film opens, Roberts intones in a strangely accented voiceover, that this story will be about the Queen, rather than Snow White. And therein lies the rub. Roberts has been a welcome presence in rom-coms in the past, but she is definitely a most contemporary actress. When she tries to act in a story that isn't set in the current day the results, like Mary Reilly, are disastrous. Mirror Mirror is a fairy tale, and Roberts is much too far out of her element. She lacks the arch delivery needed to make her Queen truly evil. She's just mean and bitchy and bored, and not much fun to watch, despite the fabulous costuming by the late Eiko Ishioka. What's worse, she knows she is not right for the part and telegraphs her discomfort in a series of lackluster line readings, each word delivered seriously, without a hint of irony or wicked glee. In two scenes she even desperately utilizes her trademark guffaw, but it is out of context and inappropriate.

All the costumes by Eiko Ishioka are exquisite, but the animal headdresses at a ball are especially fanciful

What a different film this could have been if Michelle Pfeiffer had been cast as the Queen. Or Uma Thurman or Meryl Streep or even Kim Cattrall.

But there are a few highlights. Tarsem Singh (The Cell, Immortals) brings his usual visual flair to scenes, playing with scale  and injecting a sense of the fantastical into the proceedings. There is a lovely animated opening sequence, a Beast that lurks in the forest, and some lethal puppets employed by the Queen that all add to the film's imagery. Mirror Mirror's best scenes include Snow (Lily Collins) with the seven dwarves, who are a combination of the usual cutesy personalities with a grittier approach, reminiscent of Time Bandits. Snow and the Prince, played by Armie Hammer (frequently shirtless, one of the other high points of the film), are also great together. Nathan Lane is always fun to watch, and tries to have fun with the banter in his scenes with Roberts, but you can tell he would have been beter paired with someone who could have bantered back. Sean Bean aso makes a brief but extremely welcome appearance as Snow's father, the King.

Sean Bean and Nathan Lane are welcome additions to the cast

I couldn't help thinking of Notting Hill, a film with Roberts that I like, where she plays the ultimate American movie star who falls in love with an English bookshop owner, played by Hugh Grant. During the course of the film there are clips of some of Roberts' fictional blockbusters, including a Joan of Arc-like science fiction space saga, and the filming of a version of a Henry James novel. It's one of the film's in-jokes that she is not really suited for these roles. It's not so funny that her career is now becoming this fiction. At some point Hollywood has got to give up on stunt casting with a big name to rake in a few bucks. If they simply aren't suited for the material it is bound to backfire. Like most everyone else, I'm holding out hope for the upcoming Snow White and the Huntsman, which comes out on June 1, and looks like a more interesting twist on the Snow White fairy tale. Charlize Theron will play the Evil Queen, an actress who I have no doubt will not only be able to portray true wickedness, but more importantly, have fun doing so.

the imaginarium of terry gilliam

The movie may be titled The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, but we all know that Dr. Parnassus is a Terry Gilliam stand-in, doppelgänger, alter-ego, just as Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell are for Heath Ledger.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is about an old man, Dr. Parnassus's deal with the Devil for his daughter Valentina's soul. But that is only the framework for Gilliam's fabulous visual depictions of Dr. Parnassus's ability to let his audience wander into their fantasies. Christopher Plummer was wonderful as the mad old mystic/king and Tom Waits was a delightful and quite affable Devil, who is much more interested in the game than in the spoils. Anyone who thinks the movie is a pasted-together save attempt by Gilliam and friends doesn't know what a Gilliam movie is like. And as Gilliam movies go, this is a quite good one. Like the sepia-toned start to The Wizard of Oz, Gilliam's movies usually start out murky and grubby, but then someone turns the handle and the door opens to the technicolor beauty of his imagination gone wild.




Heath Ledger plays a man who has fallen in with this strange traveling dream troupe by chance or design, but he quickly shifts the focus of their performances and the film on himself. Even with his part played posthumously by three other distinctive actors, Ledger owns the film. It is a true tribute to him that the talented trio actually manage to effortlessly convey the character he created, including inflections and mannerisms—so much so that a few times I had to really look hard to be sure it wasn't Ledger again.

Johnny Depp is a director's best friend. Anyone who has seen Lost in La Mancha knows just how much of a friend he has been to Gilliam. Gilliam, the eternal optimist, always tilting at Hollywood windmills, is still bound and determined to get his Don Quixote film off the ground, no matter how long it takes. Maybe he'll do it. At the moment it's supposed to be cast with Ewan McGregor and Robert Duvall. Who knows—by the time he finally gets to begin production, it might have Depp as Quixote.

Depp's sequence in this film is set in a Wonderland far superior to the one dreamed up for him by Tim Burton. At one point he tells his customer/victim, whose fantasy has taken a darker tinge, that burning out and dying young is not tragic, as she will never have to get sick and will always be young and beautiful. Just like Heath.

Colin Farrell may have gotten the best alternate-Heath, as he gets to play a love scene with Valentina (the lovely Lily Cole), as well as some dramatic character twists and turns. It's hard not to view the movie as a stunt, with its cast of superstar substitutes, but the three actors who took over for Ledger are all fantastic, and work seamlessly as mirror images/facets of his character. In fact, they may add a dimension to the piece that wouldn't be there if the role had been played by one man. Depp is the emotional side, Law the lighthearted side, and Farrell the darker aspects of the character. All traits are already present, but not immediately visible, when Ledger's character is on the other side of the mirror.




There were so many fabulous visual references I will have to watch again and again to catch them all, but the ones that registered this go-round were The Wizard of Oz, King Lear, Monty Python (of course) and Gilliam's own films, especially The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Time Bandits and The Fisher King. There were also numerous nods to paintings, including those by Hieronymous Bosch.

At one point early in the film Valentina says to her father, "You never finish a story!" There is so much in this movie that has a double, even triple, meaning—Gilliam's constantly thwarted efforts at film-making, the fate of star Heath Ledger, the role of the artist as a storyteller, the audience as the listeners, what it is to make and watch a film. In the end, everyone has their own imaginarium.

p.s. from Wikipedia:

Depp, Farrell, and Law opted to redirect their wages for the role to Ledger's young daughter, Matilda, ... and Gilliam altered the part of the credits saying "A Terry Gilliam film" to "A film from Heath Ledger and friends."

“ Maestro Gilliam has made a sublime film. Wonderfully enchanting and beautiful, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a uniquely ingenious, captivating creation; by turns wild, thrilling and hilarious in all its crazed, dilapidated majesty. Pure Gilliam magic! It was an honor to represent Heath. He was the only player out there breathing heavy down the back of every established actor's neck with a thundering and ungovernable talent that came up on you quick, hissing rather mischievously with that cheeky grin, "hey... get on out of my way, boys, I'm coming through..." and does he ever!!! ... and as for my other cohorts, Colin Farrell and Jude Law, they most certainly did Master Ledger very proud, I salute them.”—Johnny Depp

“ I have always loved Terry Gilliam's films. Their heart, their soul, their mind, always inventive, touching, funny and relevant. When I got the call, it was a double tug. I liked Heath very much as a man and admired him as an actor. To help finish his final piece of work was a tribute I felt compelled to make. To help Terry finish his film was an honour paid to a man I adore. I had a great time on the job. Though we were all there in remembrance, Heath's heart pushed us with great lightness to the finish.”—Jude Law

It’s not hard for me to imagine that if I ever look back on the films I’ve been a part of, and the stories I’ve had a hand in telling, one will stand out as so unique an experience, as to be incomparable. This experience was the shooting of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. The reasons for its uniqueness, sadly, are probably obvious to anyone who reads this. Three of us had been asked to complete a task that had been set in motion by a man we greatly liked and respected as both a person and an artist. Being part of this film was never about filling Heath’s shoes as much as seeing them across the finish line. ... It was this spirit of grieving the loss of Heath, that Johnny and Jude and I joined. But there was also a sense of dogged insistence. Insistence that Heath’s last piece of work should not be kept in the shadow of the light of day. More than anything, though – more than the sadness and shock, the vulnerability and un-suredness as to whether it was right to complete the film or not – was an incredible sense of love. ... Such a gift and an honor, from Heath, to be a part of the trail that he left behind. RIP Heath Ledger x—Colin Farrell

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