Tideland

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Release Date:	29/01/2007
List Price:	£19.99
Director:	Terry Gilliam
Starring:	Brendan Fletcher, Janet McTeer, Jeff Bridges, Jennifer Tilly, Jodelle Ferland
Technical Details:	Anamorphic PAL Widescreen
Running Time:	118 minutes
Certificate:	15
Region:	2
Main Language:	English
Studio:	Revolver Entertainment
Number Of Disks:	2

Synopsis
Based on the novel by Mitch Cullin, TIDELAND follows the story of young Jeliza-Rose (Jodelle Ferland), the daughter of junkie parents Noah (Jeff Bridges), an aging rock-and-roller, and Queen Gunhilda (Jennifer Tilly), a mean-spirited chocoholic. After her mother overdoses, Jeliza-Rose and Noah move to his mother's derelict home in the middle of nowhere. As Noah gets lost on one of his 'vacations'--a euphemism for his drug trips--Jeliza-Rose becomes friends with the emotionally and physically challenged Dickens (Brendan Fletcher), despite being terrified of his sister, the witch-like Dell (Janet McTeer). Meanwhile, Jeliza-Rose slips deeper into her own fantasy world, particularly with her doll heads Mustique, Sateen Lips, Glitter Gal, and Baby Blonde--one of which falls down a dark and narrow rabbit hole--and a mysterious talking squirrel that is trying to tell her something important. Aesthetically, Gilliam's film is reminiscent of the famous Andrew Wyeth painting 'Christina's World', with its bizarre and macabre set pieces. The eclectic soundtrack features such original songs as 'Wash Me In The Blood Of Jesus' and 'Van Gogh in Hollywood' (the latter performed by Bridges as the leader of a heavy metal band). TIDELAND is a challenging film from start to finish; as disturbing as PSYCHO and as fantastical as ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND.

Review

Whimsical, occasionally alarming and consistently odd, Tideland isn't a film for everyone. But director Terry Gilliam would be the first to admit that; in his introduction on the DVD, he says that while some people will love the film, others will hate it, and still others just won't know what to make of it.

It's not difficult to see why. Tideland is about a little girl whose imagination becomes her refuge when first her mother dies of a drug overdose, then her deadbeat father follows suit, leaving her alone in a house surrounded by endless fields and lurking lunatics.

Tideland has been compared with Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth; but where the latter film had a brutal wartime backdrop, Tideland is set in the sunny but isolated world of the American deep South, and the nightmare creatures of the Labyrinth are exchanged for battered dolls' heads. Left to his own devices, Gilliam does tend to make very strange films, and this is no exception. Tideland's real strength is in its lead actress: for an eleven-year-old to carry a film that tackles death, drugs and child abuse is a tall order, but Jodelle Ferland manages it spectacularly. --Sarah Dobbs