Based on the novel by Mitch Cullen, Tideland is the story of a young girl who goes to her grandmother's house with her father following her mother’s death as she embarks into a fantasy world to escape her dreary life. Directed by Terry Gilliam and screenplay by Gilliam and Tony Grisoni, the film is an exploration into the life of a young girl as she seeks to create a fantasy world amidst the chaos of her troubled family life. Starring Jodelle Ferland, Brendan Fletcher, Janet McTeer, Jennifer Tilly, and Jeff Bridges. Tideland is an enchanting but very flawed film from Terry Gilliam.
The film follows the life of a young girl who goes to Texas with her drug-addict musician father following her mother’s death as she retreats into a world of fantasy with her doll heads. It’s a film that plays into this world of death as this young woman named Jeliza-Rose (Jodelle Ferland) is someone with a vivid approach to imagination as she surrounds herself with doll heads while meeting eccentric characters during her stay in this house in the middle of the Texan fields. Especially as her imagination finds her drifting further away from reality as well as what is really happening to her father and who the people she meets really are. The film’s screenplay follows much the life of Jeliza-Rose as she lives with her drug addict parents where her father Noah (Jeff Bridges) was a once famous musician whose career is all but washed up as they both have to tend to Jeliza-Rose’s lazy mother (Jennifer Tilly) until she dies of an overdose.
Upon going to Texas where Jeliza-Rose retreats to her fantasy world, she meets a mentally-challenged young man named Dickens (Brendan Fletcher) and his strange taxidermist sister Dell (Janet McTeer). The story becomes weirder where it would meander at times as it often follows Jeliza-Rose’s world of imagination and her time with Dickens as it sometimes go on for a little too long. Especially as the story becomes less plot-driven and much looser as it would slow the story down though there are moments where Terry Gilliam and Tony Grisoni try to infuse a lot of humor. While the relationship between Jeliza-Rose and Dickens is quite creepy and discomforting, it plays into the weird aspects of the film as it showcases how removed Jeliza-Rose is with the real world.
Gilliam’s direction is very stylish in the way he creates a film that is a fantasy but from a much smaller scale. Shot largely in Regina, Saskatchewan in Canada as Texas, the film does have this sense of beauty in its location where Jeliza-Rose can roam around by herself. Even as the location has a bit of fantasy where it feels very removed from the dark world that Jeliza-Rose lives in as her grandmother’s house is a place of ruin and abandonment. Much of Gilliam’s compositions involve a lot of slanted angles to play into the weird tone of the film with his use of close-ups, medium shots, and wide shots. While there are some fantasy sequences that occur, Gilliam is unable to really keep things going due to the looseness of the story where some of the moments in the film tend to drag on for too long. Even in the actions of Dell and Dickens as it sometimes get too weird for its own good. Overall, Gilliam creates a worthwhile but troubled film about a young girl escaping into her world of fantasy.
Cinematographer Nicola Percorini does excellent work with the film‘s cinematography from the naturalistic look of the exterior locations to the usage of stylish lighting schemes for the interior scenes in day and night. Editor Lesley Walker does superb work in the editing in creating a few montages while playing to the film‘s offbeat tone with some stylish cuts. Production designer Jasna Stefanovic, with set decorator Sara McCudden and art director Anastasia Marano, does fantastic work with the look of the home that Jeliza-Rose and her father lives in as well as the house that Dickens and Dell live in.
Costume designers Mario Davignon and Delphine White do amazing work with the stylish clothes of the characters including the costumes that Dell wears. Visual effects supervisor Richard Bain does nice work with the visual effects such as a few fantasy scenes involving Dickens‘ submarine and the doll heads of Jeliza-Rose. Sound editor James Mather does terrific work with the sound work from the sound of the squirrel to other sound effects that play outside of the house where reality would creep in. The film’s music by Jeff and Mychael Danna is wonderful for its orchestral-driven score as it feature some somber, piano-based pieces to more offbeat cuts to play into the film’s humor.
The casting by Deirdre Bowen is brilliant as it features a few notable small roles from Dylan Taylor as a farm boy who brings food to Dell, Wendy Anderson as the voice of the squirrel that Jeliza-Rose encounters, and Jennifer Tilly in a very wild performance as Jeliza-Rose’s trashy, chocolate-eating mother. Brendan Fletcher is terrific as Dickens as this mentally-impaired young man who intrigues Jeliza-Rose in their love of imagination as he fears a monster that often lurks around. Janet McTeer is fantastic as Dell as this woman who is blind in one eye as she is a very eccentric figure who dresses like a witch as it’s a role that is both comical and terrifying.
Jeff Bridges is excellent as Jeliza-Rose’s father Noah as this musician whose time has come and gone as he resigns himself into his addiction to heroin while helping Jeliza-Rose in any way he can. Finally, there’s Jodelle Ferland in a remarkable performance as Jeliza-Rose as this girl with a great sense of imagination as she tries to retreat into her fantasy world while dealing with some of the dark encounters of reality as Ferland also voices the doll head friends she has.
Tideland is a pretty good though flawed film from Terry Gilliam. While it has a great cast and some amazing technical work, it’s a film that tries to be a lot of things but ends up being a bit flat in its approach to being weird. Still, there’s moments in the film that showcases Gilliam’s fascination with imagination and its battle with reality. In the end, Tideland is a terrific but messy film from Terry Gilliam.
Terry Gilliam Films: Jabberwocky - Time Bandits - Brazil - The Adventures of Baron Munchausen - The Fisher King - 12 Monkeys - Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas - The Brothers Grimm - The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus - The Zero Theorem - The Auteurs #38: Terry Gilliam
© thevoid99 2014
Directed by Woody Allen and written by Allen and Douglas McGrath, Bullets Over Broadway is the story about a young playwright eager to succeed on Broadway as he hires a gangster’s girlfriend to star in the play while working with a gangster escort on re-writes to make sure his play is a success. The film is an exploration into the world of theater as well as one trying to not make compromises with his art with the help of a man who unknowingly has the gifts to be an artist. Starring John Cusack, Dianne Wiest, Jennifer Tilly, Chazz Palminteri, Mary-Louise Parker, Tracy Ullman, Jack Warden, Jim Broadbent, and Rob Reiner. Bullets Over Broadway is a fantastic yet witty film from Woody Allen.
Set in the 1920s, the film explores a young playwright trying to stage a play without compromise as he is convinced that he’s an artist. In order to get his play produced that will feature a renowned diva, he reluctantly accepts his producer’s offer to put in a gangster’s girlfriend who wants to become an actress despite her lack of talent. The woman’s escort is a mob henchman who has to watch her all the time as he would eventually bring in some ideas that would not only change this writer’s play but also the idea about art and what it takes to be an artist. It’s a film that explores the world of a man trying to define himself as an artist as he is eager to succeed in his own terms but has a hard time making compromises. Especially as he is someone who has the talents to be a writer but is often bogged down by rules and ideas that seem detached from reality until this gangster’s henchman would be the one that would open the doors of the idea of art.
The screenplay by Woody Allen and Douglas McGrath not only goes into great lengths to explore the world of theater as well as what it takes to be an artist. It also showcases a world in which individuals all are taking part in a play as there’s egos involved and also the danger for the fact that only a few people know that funding this play is a gangster (Joe Viterelli). For David Shayne (John Cusack), it’s a compromise he has to live with for the sake of his career as he’s amazed by the gifted but boozy leading lady Helen Sinclair (Dianne Wiest). Yet, he has to deal with the gangster’s girlfriend Olive (Jennifer Tilly) who is determined to succeed despite the fact that she’s a loudmouth and isn’t very good though Shayne thinks there’s potential. Along with a brilliant but insecure leading actor named Warner Purcell (Jim Broadbent) and a supporting actress in Eden Brent (Tracey Ullman) who always carries her dog.
It’s a strange mix of people that are involved with this play as Shayne is also directing the play but his actors have a hard time connecting with the script until Olive’s bodyguard Cheech (Chazz Palminteri) would say things that he felt is hindering the story as he comes up with ideas that turned out to be great. It would prompt Shayne to secretly work with Cheech as the latter becomes more aware of his gifts though he still enjoys bumping people off. Once the story develops where Shayne becomes more confident in his work, there also comes the trappings of success where Shayne would alienate his longtime girlfriend Ellen (Mary-Louise Parker) while Cheech realizes what he must do in order for the play to become a big success as he cares more about its chance to be great. All of which would play into Shayne’s realization of what it means to suffer and sacrifice for your art.
Allen’s direction is truly exquisite in not just the way he presents the 1920s New York City and Broadway but also a period in time where a writer is trying to create something new without making compromises. While there’s an intimacy to the play that is present in the film, there’s also a sense of beauty for the scenes in the city including a moment between Shayne and Sinclair that has this gorgeous backdrop behind them. Allen also creates some unique compositions where he puts the actors in a scene while also using some moments of violence to play up that world of the gangster including the place where Cheech would kill people. It all would play into that world of art and a man’s desire to succeed as an artist where Allen would find ways to mesh humor and drama in the story while playing to that theme about art without doing it in an overbearing way. Overall, Allen creates a truly riveting film about a man’s desire to become an artist and the trappings of what one has to do to succeed as an artist.
Cinematographer Carlo Di Palma does brilliant work with the film‘s cinematography from the look of the nightclubs with its lights to some of the more low-key lighting schemes for the nighttime exterior scenes. Editor Susan E. Morse does excellent work with the editing to create some rhythmic cuts for some of the lively moments involving the gangsters while most of the cutting is quite straightforward. Production designer Santo Loquasto, with art director Tom Warren and set decorators Susan Bode and Amy Marshall, does amazing work with the set pieces from the look of the play and nightclubs to the home where Olive lives
Costume designer Jeffrey Kurland does fantastic work with the costumes from the clothes the men wear to the array of dresses the women wear to play up that sense of style. Sound editor Robert Hein does terrific work with the sound to play up the atmosphere of the theater along with the sounds of gunfire for the gangster scenes. The film’s soundtrack is wonderful for the music that is played that includes pieces by Cole Porter, Eddie Cantor, Al Jolson, the Gershwin Brothers, and Duke Ellington.
The casting by Juliet Taylor is superb for the ensemble that is created as it features some notable small appearances from Tony Sirico and Tony Darrow as a couple of henchmen, Debi Mazar as Cheech’s girlfriend Violet, Benay Venuta as a theater patron Shayne meets at a party, Rob Reiner as the writer Sheldon Flender who is also Shayne’s mentor, Harvey Fierstein as Sinclair’s agent Sid Loomis, Jack Warden as the play’s producer Julian Marx, and Joe Viterelli as the gangster Nick Valenti. Mary Louise-Parker is wonderful as Shayne’s girlfriend Ellen as a woman who supports Shayne until success comes in as well as his fascination with Helen Sinclair. Tracey Ullman is terrific as Eden Brent as a supporting actress trying to get her part to be good while bringing her dog whom Helen dislikes. John Broadbent is excellent as Warner Purcell as a gifted actor who takes a liking towards Olive while he is also revealed to be a compulsive eater.
Jennifer Tilly is amazing as Olive as a young woman who is determined to be an actress despite her lack of talents as Tilly brings a lot of humor and charisma to her performance. Chazz Palminteri is brilliant as Cheech as a gangster’s henchman who has a gift for coming up with great ideas as he becomes someone who realizes his gift as he does whatever it takes to make it be a big success. Dianne Wiest is fantastic as Helen Sinclair as a veteran actress who likes to drink but is also so gifted as she seduces Shayne in the hopes that she can become much bigger. Finally, there’s John Cusack in a marvelous performance as David Shayne as a playwright eager to succeed without compromises while dealing with some of his flaws as a writer as he hopes to finally create something that will be great only to deal with the other compromises he must face as a person.
Bullets Over Broadway is an incredible film from Woody Allen. Armed with a great ensemble cast, amazing set pieces, a fun soundtrack, and an intriguing take on the world of art. It’s a film that definitely stands as one of Allen’s triumphs as well as riveting period piece about a man trying to do something new in the world of theater. In the end, Bullets Over Broadway is a sensational film from Woody Allen.
Woody Allen Films: What's Up Tiger Lily? - Take the Money and Run - Bananas - Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) - Sleeper - Love and Death - Annie Hall - Interiors - Manhattan - Stardust Memories - A Midsummer's Night Sex Comedy - Zelig - Broadway Danny Rose - The Purple Rose of Cairo - Hannah & Her Sisters - Radio Days - September - Another Woman - New York Stories: Oedipus Wrecks - Crimes & Misdemeanors - Alice - Shadows and Fog - Husbands and Wives - Manhattan Murder Mystery - Don’t Drink the Water - Mighty Aphrodite - Everyone Says I Love You - Deconstructing Harry - Celebrity - Sweet & Lowdown - Small Time Crooks - The Curse of the Jade Scorpion - Hollywood Ending - Anything Else - Melinda & Melinda - Match Point - Scoop - Cassandra’s Dream - Vicky Cristina Barcelona - Whatever Works - You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger - Midnight in Paris - To Rome with Love - Blue Jasmine - Magic in the Moonlight - Irrational Man - (Cafe Society)
The Auteurs #24: Woody Allen Pt. 1 - Pt. 2 - Pt. 3 - Pt. 4
© thevoid99 2013
