The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)

Yesterday was Parnassus day at Puskin Cinema. Last Terry Gilliam flick makes you think a lot, besides the escapist joy of the theatricalities of his filmmaking. The story(ies) (autobiographical somehow..) have so many levels and they trick you somehow by actually breaking with any narative line. The jump into the unconscious of various characters is hilarious and engaging. Not to mention the pleasure of watching the evilness of the Bekettian Mr.Nick (Tom Waits). Reading some reviews by proffesional film critics I discovered the shocking easyness to tell everyone things like: "makes you wish Gilliam would get outside his own head a little more and try harder to get inside of ours" (James Kendrick), "There's a fine line that separates fantastical from nonsensical. Too often, Gilliam's film comes down on the wrong side." (Mike Scott), "Once again Gilliam has made a movie probably only he can truly understand or find very interesting." (Jeff Bayer) or "As for who other than Terry Gilliam might enjoy it, I'm at a loss." (Eric D. Snider)

What I found engaging was Johnny Depp's rather long comment on the movie: "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!!! Heath is a marvel, Christopher Plummer beyond anything he's ever done, Waits as the Devil is a God, Lily Cole andAndrew Garfield, the very foundation, are spectacular, Verne Troyer simply kicks ass and as for my other cohorts, Colin Farrell and Jude Law, they most certainly did Master Ledger very proud, I salute them. Though the circumstances of my involvement are extremely heart-rending and unbelievably sad, I feel privileged to have been asked aboard to stand in on behalf of dear Heath."

Chautauqua!

Chautauqua! from UTRFestival on Vimeo.



What is Chautauqua?  According to New York Times, it was an American theatrical educational movement from the 19th century based on traveling performances where professors, scientists, preachers, musicians and artists had to share some form of knowledge. James Stanley, writer and performer explained the idea: "Brown tents would go from town to town with scholars who enlightened people with knowledge. It was all based on the idea of civic duty and creating a common culture through education." A theatrical project of rediscovering Enlightenment.

The National Theater of the United States of America designed a performance with the same name & concept that addresses contemporary issues in a 75 minutes format. It includes  "speeches, monologues, puppetry, musical numbers, history lessons and a sing-along". Different guest speakers are lecturing on various topics, the format proves to be succesful nowadays in order to "explore cultural production, knowledge production, commerce and community." I would be curious to see this performance and to explore the concept myself: the Brechtian techniques can do wonders in such a well-thought format where entretainment, political, scientifc and academic discourses met.