ROTTERDAM 06! Amahagger Muggle On Gilliam's TIDELAND and Miike's GREAT YOKAI WAR!!

Directed by Terry Gilliam, USA, 2005.

"I don't like the movie, I'm afraid I have to say, to be honest. But it's now the next day and there are images that I still cannot shake, that I can't get rid off. Either this is the best movie you've made, or your worst!"

(Michael Palin, talking to fellow Python Terry Gilliam about Tideland)

Mr. Gilliam anounced his own movie onstage, saying that originally there was a Q/A planned after the screening, but (for several reasons) that was moved to the front, so if anyone had any questions without having seen the movie...? Nobody answered (apart from laughter we were all dumbstruck), so without a single question he gave the best Q/A I have yet seen, including the Michael Palin quote. Apparently people had very different reactions to Tideland. Leaving the cinema shortly after the beginning was one of them, he said, but he pleaded with us to stay till the end because that showed a different story than the beginning did. He commented also on the terrific lead Jodelle Ferland, 9-and-a-half years old, who's fantastic performance shocked them during filming. She kept improvising and thinking up things that an adult would never think of. Terry Gilliam told us to watch the movie as a child,to try and see the world as a 9-and-a-half-year old ourselves. Also he said he now has discovered his inner child. Apparently it's a little girl, as he surprised his wife and children by having a lot of fun playing with dolls. Furthermore he stressed that he was sick of the media showing children as perpetual victims all over the world, saying this didn't take into account the immense strength and resilience children have built in themselves. He hoped this film would go a little way towards rectifying that lack of respect. When Mr Gilliam left he suddenly ran back (coat already half on) and started asking the people on the first row: "What are you doing here? This is too close too the screen, the movie will be all over the place, you won't see a thing!". When the front-row people said "We'll see it" Gilliam answered "No, the movie starts from the third row!". A gentleman and a class act.

Now for the movie itself. For those not yet in the know I'll try to be spoilerfree about the last two-thirds of the story. Little Jeliza-Rose takes care of both her drug-addicted parents in a way which is shocking and touching at the same time. When her mother dies her father takes her to a mansion in the middle of a huge plain of grass. When he dies as well she survives by living more and more in her fantasy world, and encounters her very weird neighbours in exactly that state of mind.

I had wanted to see Tideland because I was curious. The story didn't draw me AT ALL, but hey, it's Terry Gilliam. And I'm happy to say I enjoyed Tideland much more than I expected. There is a vile rumour doing the rounds that this is a low-budget movie. I say vile because it has to be false. This picture looks every bit as polished and expensive as, ahum, "The Brothers Grimm". Unlike "The Brothers Grimm" it's also well told, incredibly well acted, funny, frightening and disturbing. Jodelle Ferland's powerful performance gave me goosebumps. The movie looks and sounds gorgeous. There are special effects and they add to the movie instead of distract. And it's totally a Terry Gilliam movie. His signature is all over the place, in the way he films the foulest things and manages to create beautiful pastiches from them. When you see some of the later scenes as an adult it gets very uncomfortable, bacause while you can relate to the playfullness as a kid, you can see the danger little Jeliza-Rose is literally flirting with. And I have to say this one more time, the lead actress is a tremendous find and I'm curious what will happen to her.

Indeed, this movie devided the group I saw it with. Some found it too slow, others too gross or scary. I was just so very very pleased to see Terry Gilliam's REAL comeback as a director. He's only sixty-four, lets pray we'll get a couple of more pictures from him.

We got the same rating cards as allways: 1 is bad, 2 is meager, 3 is OK, 4 is good and 5 is very good. I gave it a 4, but in retrospect I feel that number crawling up. It's just that this movie left me feeling stressed and uncomfortable to the point that I nearly sighed with relief when I saw the end credits roll up. Still, heavily recommended!

Less than a hour later, I saw another movie about a child who has an adventure in a fantasy world unseen by adults. This time by Miike Takashi. While Joe Dante's episode of "Masters of Horror" is actually being shown here at the festival, Miike's episode isn't, one of many weird omissions from this years festival. A shame,as Miike Takashi is sort of adopted over here in Rotterdam, and showing something "banned from being broadcast on US-television" would have been spicy! Alas...