Tideland - 2005 - Terry Gilliam

Tideland - 2005 - Terry Gilliam


This odd tale follows the events in the life of a young girl by the name of Jeliza Rose (Jodelle Ferland). First we meet her and her parents (played by Jennifer Tilly and Jeff Bridges) who are both heroin addicts who use their daughter to help them get high. Mom die of an overdose and Jeliza and her dad head out to her grandmother's old house out in the country. Shortly after arriving at the house Jeliza's dad also overdoses leaving the girl alone with her four doll heads. While out playing in the field Jeliza meets Dell (Janet McTeer) who is her closest neighbor. Dell lives with her brother Dickens (Brendan Fletcher) who is an epileptic and has had a section of his brain removed to help stop the seizures. Dell is an amateur taxidermist and she thinks of the process as a way of extending life. Jeliza begins spending a lot of time with Dell and Dickens, but she is always at least partially living in her imagination. Sateen and the other doll heads are Jeliza's best friends and often the only other characters around. In the end we see an event that leads to an ending that can be taken a couple of different ways, but I prefer to take it a face value and call it a happy ending.


Visually this film has Terry Gilliam's stamp all over it. From the canted camera angles to the grotesque imagery the look is in the same vain as Brazil or Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The aesthetic is intriguing, but not that original and the story is very dark and depressing but this movie succeeds due to the strong performance of Jodelle Ferland. Miss Ferland creates not only a compelling characters, but also she sell the realism of Jeliza's imaginary world. There are moments of humor in Tideland, but psychological horror is the mood that permiates the film as a whole. It would be very easy to hate this film as many of the critics did at the time of it's release. I hope that Gilliam avoids this level of darkness in the future and keeps his tortured characters to ones who in some way have brought it upon themselves instead of children. Jodelle Ferland is the reason to watch this film, but she is amazing and I am looking forward to seeing more of her in the future.
8/10