Tideland Review
The DVD release of Terry Gilliam's Tideland finally hits shelves February 27th and I've managed to get an early peek at it. While the film has greatly divided audiences I'm very much on the positive side of the fence and am pleased to say it has received a DVD release loaded with features although the North American editions feature one major flaw. Here's the review I wrote when the film played at the Toronto International Film Festival with some added notes on the DVD release.
After a long absence Terry Gilliam made a not-so-triumphant return just a few weeks ago with the middling -- if you listen to the critics -- Brothers Grimm, a film that bore the marks of heavy handed studio meddling from the cast to the script and right on down to the principal crew. While it was nice to simply see Gilliam working again it would have been far, far better to see him allowed to shoot his own film his own way. Well, wait no longer. With Tideland Gilliam is well and truly back.
Based on the novel by Mitch Cullin, Tideland tells the story of Jeliza-Rose, a young girl who has retreated into a vigorous fantasy life to compensate for, to put it bluntly, the extreme shittiness of her family life. Her father is a washed up musician, burned out on drugs, still using heavily, with an absolutely inexplicable fixation with Vikings in general and Jutland in particular. Jeff Bridges plays him as an utter madman and while he's fascinating to watch, and Bridge's best character in years, and much loved by his young daughter you absolutely would not want this man for a father, particularly not after watching him have his little girl prepare a hit of heroin for him. Jeliza-Rose's mother, as played by Jennifer Tilly, is even worse. Also a major drug user and massively bi-polar good ol' mom can be screaming at you one moment and kissing you the next. She is completely volatile and unpredictable. Tilly dives into this white trash role with such abandon that it should completely cure any Tilly fetishists out there of your lusts. The woman has never been so unattractive. With a family like this is it any wonder that Jeliza-Rose's best friends in the world are a quartet of doll heads that she wears on her fingers to engage in lengthy conversations? I think not.
Life takes a difficult turn when Jeliza's mother dies of a drug overdose and dad, who is talked out of burning mom in a proper Viking funeral pyre right there in the bedroom only when Jeliza-Rose points out that doing so would likely burn the entire building down, takes the girl on the road heading for his childhood home in the prairies. They arrive to find the house neglected, abandoned, a much vandalized but settle in anyway and when dad, too, dies of a drug overdose Jeliza-Rose is left with only his decomposing corpse, her doll heads, the wild haired one eyed madwoman down the way and her brain damaged brother for company.
With Tideland Gilliam has returned to one of his favorite topics, the fluid relationship between fantasy and reality. But where the power of fantasy has always been presented as a positive in his films until now -- see Baron Munchausen or Time Bandits for that -- this time out he delves into the negative aspects. Jeliza'Rose's retreat into fantasy is certainly understandable but it produces some terribly tragic consequences.
As tempting as it will be for people to focus on the big names in this film -- Bridges and Tilly -- the fact is that they are secondary characters at best, removed in the early going. The only three that matter are Janet Macteer as the crazed neighbor, Brendan Fletcher as her brother and Jodelle Ferland, a very young actress who drives every single scene, as Jeliza-Rose. Macteer teeters on the edge of camp from time to time but never crosses over and Fletcher and Ferland are both absolutely stunning. As much as Gilliam drives studio executives insane, actors have always loved working with him and he consistently draws out fantastic performances and this is no exception. Ferland is not only immensely talented but her talent is also surprisingly polished. She's a natural in front of the camera, with an enormous range.
I had been cautioned going in to this that Tideland is Gilliam's least commercial film to date and that caution is a fair one. Though the film is quite plot based there is no firm target driving the narrative. A great many things happen but they are not necessarily aiming for any particular end. The goal is not so much to enlighten as it is to experience the world through the eyes of this very unusual girl. Some will find that lack of drive frustrating, others liberating. This is much more the Gilliam that made Fear and Loathing than it is the Gilliam that made 12 Monkeys, either way I say it's vintage stuff and proof positive that the man's still got it.
On to the DVD. The film comes as a two disc set, the first disc including the feature only with bonus features, most notably Vincenzo Natali's 44 minute documentary Getting Gilliam, on the second disc. We'll start with disc two. You get five minutes of deleted scenes, with commentary by Gilliam, a five minute 'Making Of'' that is nothing more than EPK material, plus the aforementioned documentary helmed by the director of Cube. The documentary, frankly, is in itself nothing to get overly excited about. Natali takes a very straight forward approach, talking openly about Gilliam's role in his own life, and approaches things at least as much as a fan as he does as a serious documentarian. He's just happy to be there and things are pleasantly bland as a result. Or, perhaps, as Gilliam jokes on the commentary, Natali was simply unfortunate enough to be there shooting when things were going well which means no Lost in La Mancha style theatrics. And here's where thing get interesting: Natali and Gilliam give a commentary over the entire running time of the doc and Gilliam, as always, gives great commentary and with his nimble mind and quick wit, instantly draws Natali out of himself. The transfer of the feature is where there is a problem - at least in the R1 releases - with the film having been cropped down from Gilliam's intended 2.25:1 ratio to a 1.77:1. The feature gets a brief video introduction from Gilliam himself and, once again, there is a stellar commentary featuring Gilliam and screenwriter Tony Grisoni. Whether you like the film or hate it there's no denying that Gilliam is a fascinating man to listen to and so whichever camp you fall in I recommend at least a rental to give the commentaries a spin.
