What I Think About Movies I've Seen

Doctor Parnassus (played by Christopher Plummer) is a man with the ability to allow people to enter their own imaginations, but they will be faced with temptation that could cost them their souls. He used to be immortal, but was unhappy and made a deal with the devil (played by Tom Waits) to become mortal under the condition that any children he had would be given to the devil on their sixteenth birthday, and his daughter Valentina (Lily Cole) is nearing that age.

This was Heath Ledger's last movie, and he actually died while making it. However, because of the strange nature of the movie, his role was able to be completed by Jude Law, Johnny Depp, and Colin Farrell without breaking continuity. Collectively, they played a man who had been left for dead and suffering from amnesia, although as time goes by it becomes apparent that he's not being completely honest with them. I think that having four different people play the same role in different parts of the story actually helped make it easier to understand the different phases of that character as the story progressed.

This is definitely a movie that requires you to pay attention to catch some of the subtle details, but I really liked the story and the way it was told. The writing and acting were both very good, and the style reminded me a lot of Big Fish. I was concerned that it might be too fantastical for my taste, but I think that it ended up with just the right feel.