Tideland Details

[Highly rated reviewer]

Alice in Wonderland meets Psycho

Described by Gilliam as “Alice in Wonderland meets Psycho” – this poetically faithful, low budget adaptation of Mitch Cullin’s novel, is arguable his most disturbing and distinctive film to-date. Bold and original, this painful odyssey within a lonely child’s imagination has a strange awkward beauty that will not be to everyone’s taste. Gilliam’s approach to visual language is radical; he is prepared to take enormous risks while paying attention to the smallest texture and details. When it pays off, as it does in the accurate sense of scale of this tiny female narrator’s inner world - it is a wondrous achievement.

Jeliza Rose (Jodelle Ferland) sits inside the topsy-turvy landscape of an upturned bus, conversing with a chorus of disembodied Barbie doll heads. Although this, the first of many dark claustrophobic interiors, may briefly light up with CGI generated firefly fairies, rest assured, this is not Disney. Jeliza’s train wreck of a family swiftly derails any romanticised notions of childhood. After her abusive, bloated, chocoholic mother (Jennifer Tilley), dies of a methadone overdose, Jeliza and her drug addled, aging, rock star father (Jeff Bridges) set off in true fairy tale style to grandma’s house. However, grandmas’ long dead, the house a dilapidated ruin and now after his last hit father rigidly stares at the wall while emitting strange smells.

Cast adrift in the wild oceanic beauty of the surrounding Saskatchewan prairies and Pecorini’s ravishing widescreen lensing, Jeliza appears shipwrecked in an Andrew Wyeth painting. Emotionally and physically starving Jeliza encounters a talking squirrel, an eccentric taxidermist in a black beekeeper’s bonnet (Janet McTeer) and the brave sea captain and slayer of the monster shark (Brendan Fletcher). The most authentic testament of a child’s attempt to survive neglect and abuse, and affecting exploration of the consequences of using fantasy as a coping mechanism since TARNATION.

Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear.......Terry, we need a word.

Dear Mr Gilliam.

You introduced this film with an announcement. Some of us weren't going to like what we were about to see. Damn right (and not a great way to set up your audience).

So let's look at the reasoning for your apology - the film we were about to see is seen through the eyes of a child, or a child's imagination if you like. Great, I can accept that. As we grow older, we lose sight of what it is to be a child, to see the world with such innocence. No, not me, not got a problem with that.

The problem I do have, Mr G, is that it's all very well delivering a film through the eyes of a child, but the story we see still has to be dramatic. And by that, I don't expect car chases, explosions (though you deliver there, eventually) or kung-fu. But equally, I don't want to be waiting and waiting for something to happen, some kind of arc or shape to the narrative that really engages me.

There's nothing wrong with the accents, nothing really wrong with the performances. But film is about story. And I just didn't care.

I really, really wanted to like this and had great expectations.

But, I'm afraid, you were right. Some of us weren't going to like it.

Note to audience: If self-indulgence is your thing, jump right in.