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Incredibly Off-Putting

Posted : 10 years, 5 months ago on 6 October 2013 07:48

"Tideland," Terry Gilliam's fantastical horror brain child, is an undeniably original, unmistakably repulsive journey into the life and mind of one troubled little girl (Jodelle Ferland.) To say it outstays it's welcome it an understatement, the film clocks at over two hours and leaves an undeniably bad taste in one's throat. The characters are hard to comprehend, much less like or understand.

All this would be bad enough without the bizarre intro by Terry Gilliam, who vaguely informs us that children 'bounce back' from situations such as these and tells us 'don't forget to laugh.' But what is there to laugh at in a disgusting horror show such as this? it's as if Dave Peltzer of 'A Child Called It' fame had promised us a knee-slapping good time.

Between the role of Jeff Bridges as the girl's junkie father, who sits down in a chair to shoot up, dies, and spends the majority of the movie in various states of decomposition, our prepubescent heroine trading 'silly kisses' and sexual curiousness with a mentally retarded man (Brendon Fletcher,) and Daddy (prior to his death) instructing his daughter to prepare heroin for him, I found very little to laugh at in this revolting freak show.

The fact that Gilliam expects us to laugh and see this whole travesty through the eyes of a child speaks volumes on the man's mental stability. What does he think we are? Animals. Sub-human cretins who are all-too-eager and willing to laugh at the mental and psychological destruction of a child? Apparently, if Gilliam should have his way, we will be laughing at child endangerment through the eyes of that child, oblivious to the adult consequences of such atrocities. Mmm-kay.

After her harpy mother (Jennifer Tilly) O.D.'s Jeliza-Rose (Ferland), ten or eleven or so, is swept away from the squalid tenement she calls home by her druggie father (Bridges,) and tries her best to adjust to her new home in her father's childhood house on the massive prairie, far away from anything. When Dad dies, Jeliza-Rose acts much as if he was alive, talking to his corpse and exploring the prairie, where she meets local freak Dell (Janet McTeer) and her brain-damaged brother, Dickens (Fletcher.)

Dell, who as it happens, bangs the stuttering grocery delivery boy (Dylan Taylor) in exchange for food, takes a liking to Jeliza-Rose and invites her and her doll heads (Jeliza-Rose frequently talks through her collection of severed doll's heads, did I mention that?) to live in her and Dickens' family home.

"Tideland" often references Lewis Carroll's 'Alice in Wonderland,' as Jeliza-Rose 'falls down the rabbit hole' from one bizarre situation to another. Although technically well-made in many respects, "Tideland" is yucky, overlong, and had me begging for it to end by the halfway point.

Jodelle Ferland turns in pretty good performance as Jeliza-Rose (although I found her Southern accent exaggerated) and Brendan Fletcher gives a decent supporting performance as Dickens (who, through no fault of his own, reminded me a bit of Ben Stiller's 'Simple Jack') but overall the film is a fail. I would recommend you watch "Alice" by Jan Svankmajer as a dark take on "Alice in Wonderland" rather than this. It is less sickening and doesn't make you feel like you're watching for hours on end, but hey, that's just me.





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Tideland review

Posted : 13 years ago on 21 March 2011 10:32

Once I saw the ending of "Tidland" on Tv and somehow I didn't manage to how was it called. So many years I was wondering how is it called, what was in the beginning... So when I saw it again I was a bit disappointed. That's why only 7 stars from me. Also, I didn't really like the ending. I wanted something more. But still this film is one of the kind. Original plot, great acting.


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An interesting failure

Posted : 13 years, 1 month ago on 8 February 2011 09:58

Since I have a weak spot for Gilliam's work, I was definitely eager to check this flick. Unfortunately, I didnโ€™t like it much and, honestly, I thought it was rather bleak and creepy... I mean, I have seen some tough sh*t through the years but this one was actually pretty hardcore. You don't believe me? In the first 10 minutes, the mother of the main character (a 12 year old girl) dies of overdose and then in the following 15 minutes, she helps her father (played by Jeff Bridges) to shoot heroine and he also dies of overdose and until the end of the movie, this little girl spends a good chunk of her time talking to her dead rotting corpse of a father... I can't say I didn't like this movie because the actors were really good and Gilliam is a damned fine director and it shows on the picture but he spent actually all his time in this movie basically antagonizing his audience that it made it impossible for me to really enjoy this movie in any way. Eventually, it is definitely an acquired taste and even though it was not bad at all, I definitely cannot recommend it and you should watch it at your own risk.


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Tideland review

Posted : 13 years, 4 months ago on 11 November 2010 07:55

the most disgusting movie i've ever seen. in a good way)


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Tideland review

Posted : 13 years, 6 months ago on 3 October 2010 11:39

Gilliam's pretentious disclaimer (just let the work speak for itself) at the start of the DVD feature began what would be a very tedious two hours. His intro leads us to believe that this is an intensely personal work that aims to discover his inner-child. Fine. No matter what the medium I respect when an artist is first and foremost working for him/herself. However, in the case of film there are MANY others involved in the creative process, not to mention the audience. (And with film, perhaps the audience should be considered. If I don't appreciate a painting I simply move on to the next thing my museum ticket grants me access to. Walking out of a film entails a little more sacrifice.) It frustrates me when I feel a director is focused entirely too much on entertaining his own interests and entirely too little on satisfying those of the audience. I think that's exactly what Gilliam is guilty of here. It's as though he's so wrapped up in this nightmarish fairytale/resiliance of the child-soul fable, complete with tilted camera effects, overhead shots, layering of animation atop live-action, and myriad other cute tricks, that somewhere along the way he forgot to produce a decent film. The direction and storytelling struggles to blend surrealism and realism effectively, so that the audience is left with charactatures rather than real people, little sense of structural space, and a vague feeling at several points that the film has simply lost it's way. But I guess that's fine, because it certainly doesn't seem to be in any hurry to get anywhere.


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Tideland review

Posted : 16 years, 2 months ago on 27 January 2008 11:31

In the first 5 minutes or so you get to find out why this kid is playing with dolls heads. It's understandable, if I had parents like that I'd play with dolls heads too.
This movie is pretty out there and yet it's also heartbreaking as you can see just how lonely this kid is. Basically not one of those movies that you remember for being bad or good, but for how different it is I think or possibly intense and heartbreaking. You'll have to watch it yourself to decide whether it was good or bad.


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