Tideland (Terry Gilliam)

Caught the "world premiere" of Terry Gilliam's Tideland last night at the Elgin. For some reason this film was co-funded by Telefilm Canada, a fact that has upset more than a few CDN film industry types I spoke with . IMHO it's money well spent to be able to work with a director of Gilliam's caliber. That being said I really did not care for the film. It's the story of a young girl whose parents die in the first 20 minutes of the film and how she deals with the loss. Her mom played by Jennifer Tilly is a loudmouth fiend who wouldn't share her chocolate with her starving daughter. The father is played by Jeff Bridges is a heroin addict and sometimes rock star. An early scene has the young girl assisting Bridges character in shooting up. Once he expires in the film his rotting corpse is shown in various stages of decomposition. The daughter is somewhat unaware that pop has popped. She figures he's in another drug induced stupor. The bulk of the film is the relationship between the girl and a mentally challenged boy at least 10 years her senior. They're both escaping their sad realities with a fictional realm that they share. Reminded me a little of Heavenly Creatures in their escape to a world of magical realism. The movie just felt like too much. It was too long and very frustrating. Creative but pointless. Could have effectively been made into an interesting short film IMHO. Gilliam and the cast were in attendance. I swear that Jennifer Tilly is stalking me...