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Tideland (film)
Encyclopedia
Tideland is a 2005 British-Canadian fantasy
thriller film co-written and directed by Terry Gilliam
, an adaptation
of Mitch Cullin
's novel of the same name
. The film was shot in Regina, Saskatchewan
, Canada
, and surrounding area in the fall and winter of 2004. The world premiere was at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival
, where the film was met with mixed response from both viewers and critics. After little interest from U.S. distributors, THINKFilm
picked the film up for a U.S. release date in October 2006.
in which Noah (Jeff Bridges
) says, "Daddy's gonna stroll down that far subterranean shore, all littered with the flotsam of hopes and dreams. Relics of ancient times. Lonely cenotaph
s. Standing along that melancholy tideland." In Cullin's novel, however, there is no such dialogue from the character of Noah, and the only mention of the book's title comes at the end of Chapter 21, last paragraph, when the first-person voice of Jeliza Rose says, "Before sleep, the last sound to fill my ears was the beating of my heart, and I knew I was slipping past the tideland, going beneath the ocean and sinking away from What Rocks."
), and her solitary adventures during one summer in rural Texas
while staying at a rundown farmhouse called What Rocks, and focuses on the increasingly dark, imaginative fantasy
life the girl creates with the aid of dismembered Barbie doll heads that she often wears on her fingertips. With names such as Mustique, Sateen Lips, Baby Blonde and Glitter Gal, the doll heads not only engage in long conversations with Jeliza-Rose, reflecting different aspects of the girl's psyche
, but also act as her companions while she explores the barren Texas landscape.
After her mother (Jennifer Tilly
) overdoses on drugs, Jeliza-Rose and her father, Noah (Jeff Bridges
), flee to Noah's mother's home, a remote Texas farmhouse. Noah fears that with all the drugs in their house he will lose Jeliza-Rose and be sent to prison, so he attempts to set it alight before they leave, although Jeliza-Rose manages to stop him. They find the farmhouse abandoned, but they settle in anyway. Their first night there, Noah dies from a heroin overdose. For much of the rest of the film, Noah's corpse remains seated upright in a living room chair with sunglasses covering his eyes. As her father slowly begins to rot, Jeliza-Rose doesn't readily acknowledge his death because she has grown accustomed to him being unconscious for long periods at a time. Instead, she retreats deeper and deeper into her own mind, exploring the tall grass around the farmhouse, relying on her doll heads for friendship as an unconscious way of keeping herself from feeling too lonely and afraid.
During Jeliza-Rose's wanderings, she eventually encounters and befriends her neighbors, a mentally impaired
young man called Dickens (Brendan Fletcher
) and his older sister Dell (Janet McTeer
) who is blind in one eye from a bee sting. At this point the story begins to unfold, revealing a past connection between Dell and Jeliza-Rose's deceased father. The eccentric neighbors take the girl under their wing, going so far as to preserve Noah's body via taxidermy
(which Dell and Dickens did to their own dead mother). Amorous feelings, initiated mostly by the much younger Jeliza-Rose, begin to creep into the child-like relationship between her and Dickens, and it is revealed that the deeply troubled Dickens, a man-child who once drove a school bus in front of an oncoming train, keeps a stash of dynamite
in his bedroom that he intends to use against the Monster Shark he believes is roaming the countryside. The Monster Shark is, in reality, the nightly passenger train that travels past the farmhouse where Jeliza-Rose and her dead father reside.
What follows is literally an explosive conclusion to the film, one in which Dickens blasts a hole into the real world by dynamiting the train from its tracks, creating a scene of chaos near the farmhouse. Wandering about the wreckage, and among the confusion of injured travelers, Jeliza-Rose is discovered by a woman who survived, and she assumes the little girl is also a victim of the train wreck. The woman offers her a clementine while Dell frantically searches the wreck for signs of her brother Dickens.
At Spain
's 2005 San Sebastian Festival
, Tideland was awarded the esteemed FIPRESCI
Prize, selected by an international jury of critics that, in their award statement, said: "Our jury focused on the international competition and found Terry Gilliam's Tideland to be the best film of the selection — a decision which provoked controversial reactions." The jury consisted of Andrei Plakhov
, Russia
, President (Kommersant
), Julio Feo Zarandieta, France
(Radio France Internationale
), Wolfgang Martin Hamdorf, Germany
(Film-Dienst), Massimo Causo, Italy
(Corriere Del Giorno), Sergi Sanchez, Spain
(La Razón
).
In response to the controversy surrounding the film's FIPRESCI win at San Sebastian, jurist Sergi Sanchez wrote: "Gilliam's was the only one that dared to propose a risky and radical image, without any concessions, on a specific matter: madness as the only way of escaping in the face of a hostile environment. All this is endlessly coherent with the director's body of work, which has been frequently misunderstood by the critics, the industry, and audiences alike." Defending Gilliam's film while also placing it the context of the director's previous works, as well as explaining the jury's decision, Sanchez concluded by stating, "Fighting against windmills is, after all, the same as fighting against the prejudices that trap creative freedom."
However, many of the subsequent mainstream reviews of Tideland were largely mixed and often negative, with Japan
being the only country where it was both a critical and box office
success. The film was first released in Russia (February 2006) followed by the Netherlands (March 2006) and Greece (May 2006). After almost a year without any US distribution, the film was picked up for American release by ThinkFilm
and subsequently opened in the US earning just $7,276 from one theater during its first week run. The film's release was then expanded to only nine theatres for a total domestic gross of $66,453. Since then, several independent cinemas and art museums went on to present the film as a special event, including IFC Center
and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
.
Gilliam has openly criticized ThinkFilm for the manner in which the company handled both the American theatrical release of the film, and their unauthorized tampering with the aspect ratio of the film for its US DVD
release. He has also gone on record as saying that the initial reviews of nearly all his films have usually garnered mixed reactions from critics, and in at least one interview, as well as in the introduction to Tideland, he has stated that he believes many moviegoers will hate Tideland, others will love it, and some just won't know what to think about it. Gilliam has also said that Michael Palin
, another former member of Monty Python
, had told him that the film was either the best thing he had ever done, or the worst — although Palin himself couldn’t quite decide either way.
Entertainment Weekly
critic Owen Gleiberman
gave Tideland an "F", calling it "gruesomely awful". In the subsequent review of the DVD release, Gleiberman's fellow Entertainment Weekly critic Clark Collis gave the film a "B" and stated: "Terry Gilliam's grim fairy tale is another fantastic(al) showcase for his visual talents."
The film received a "two thumbs way down" rating from Richard Roeper
and guest critic A.O. Scott on the television show Ebert & Roeper. Scott said that toward the end, the film was "creepy, exploitive, and self-indulgent," a sentiment that was echoed in his New York Times review of the film. Like Scott, Roeper had a strong negative opinion, saying, "I hated this film," and "I came very close to walking out of the screening room. And I never do that." In the Chicago Reader, critic Jonathan Rosenbaum
dismissed the film as "extremely unpleasant" and warned readers, "Enter this diseased Lewis Carroll universe at your own risk."
The Chicago Tribune
critic Michael Wilmington, however, praised the film further stating that "...it's crazy, dangerous and sometimes gorgeous...", and Harry Knowles
of Ain't It Cool News
wrote, "TIDELAND, for me, is a masterpiece", a blurb
featured on the DVD release.
Filmmaker David Cronenberg
described the film as a "poetic horror film
", a quote which was used in the advertising campaign for the theatrical release.
Filmmaker Rian Johnson
named Tideland and The Fountain
as his favorite films of 2006.
In the July 16, 2007 online edition of Independent Film Channel
News, Michael Atkinson
published a comparative film review of Harry Kümel's rarely seen Malpertuis
(1971) and Tideland. Atkinson posits that a historical perspective has made Kümel's previously scorned film a more viable creation when far removed from the cultural context in which it was first released. He goes on to argue that Tideland could be the 21st century counterpart to Malpertuis, suggesting that Gilliam's film "is a snark-hunted freak just waiting for its historical moment, decades from now, when someone makes a case for it as a neglected masterpiece."
of Tideland was released on February 27, 2007. It is a 2-disc "Collector's Edition", with a commentary track, many interviews, deleted scene
s (only with a forced commentary over the original audio), and a making-of documentary entitled Getting Gilliam
, made by Cube
director Vincenzo Natali
.
There has been some controversy among fans over the aspect ratio presented on the Region 1 DVD released by ThinkFilm for the United States; the film is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.77:1 instead of the aspect ratio prepared and approved by Gilliam and the director of photography (in theaters, it was shown in 2.35:1, but Gilliam wanted to open up the image slightly; somewhere between 2.10:1 and 2.25:1). There were early reports that other regions, and Canada (region 1), had the theatrical aspect ratio, but these have proven false, although the region 2 UK disc is slightly closer to Gilliam's intended aspect ratio. Both the distributor, ThinkFilm, and director, Gilliam, have publicly stated that they are working on a solution to the ratio problem and will release a corrected version for sale as soon as possible.
There have been recent rumors that the region 3 DVD features the fully corrected transfer. The rumor has come into question with the (supposed) screen capture of the region 3 (Hong Kong
) release.
Furthermore, the EuroVideo / Concorde Home Entertainment release has been independently verified to follow the 2.35:1 ratio which is closer to the much wanted 2.25:1 ratio (see pics).
OFDb.de states the same reported ratio.
Nominated
Fantasy film
Fantasy films are films with fantastic themes, usually involving magic, supernatural events, make-believe creatures, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered to be distinct from science fiction film and horror film, although the genres do overlap...
thriller film co-written and directed by Terry Gilliam
Terry Gilliam
Terrence Vance "Terry" Gilliam is an American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam is also known for directing several films, including Brazil , The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , The Fisher King , and 12 Monkeys...
, an adaptation
Film adaptation
Film adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. It is a type of derivative work.A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a feature film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction , autobiography, comic book, scripture, plays, and even...
of Mitch Cullin
Mitch Cullin
Mitch Cullin is an American writer of Scotch-Irish and Cherokee descent. He is the author of seven novels, and one short story collection. He currently resides in Arcadia, California and Tokyo, Japan with his partner and frequent collaborator Peter I. Chang...
's novel of the same name
Tideland
Tideland is the third published book by author Mitch Cullin, and is the third installment of the writer's Texas Trilogy that also includes the coming-of-age novel Whompyjawed and the novel-in-verse Branches....
. The film was shot in Regina, Saskatchewan
Regina, Saskatchewan
Regina is the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province and a cultural and commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. It is governed by Regina City Council. Regina is the cathedral city of the Roman Catholic and Romanian Orthodox...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and surrounding area in the fall and winter of 2004. The world premiere was at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
, where the film was met with mixed response from both viewers and critics. After little interest from U.S. distributors, THINKFilm
THINKFilm
THINKFilm is a privately held production and distribution company founded in September 2001. It has been a division of David Bergstein’s Capitol Films since 2006. Bergstein also serves as the company’s chairman...
picked the film up for a U.S. release date in October 2006.
Title
The film's title appears in dialogue written by Gilliam and co-writer Tony GrisoniTony Grisoni
-Biography:He has co-written several of director Terry Gilliam's films, including Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Tideland.Tony Grisoni worked in many different areas of film making before turning to screenwriting. QUEEN OF HEARTS, 1989 was his award winning first feature directed by Jon Amiel...
in which Noah (Jeff Bridges
Jeff Bridges
Jeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges is an American actor and musician. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart....
) says, "Daddy's gonna stroll down that far subterranean shore, all littered with the flotsam of hopes and dreams. Relics of ancient times. Lonely cenotaph
Cenotaph
A cenotaph is an "empty tomb" or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been interred elsewhere. The word derives from the Greek κενοτάφιον = kenotaphion...
s. Standing along that melancholy tideland." In Cullin's novel, however, there is no such dialogue from the character of Noah, and the only mention of the book's title comes at the end of Chapter 21, last paragraph, when the first-person voice of Jeliza Rose says, "Before sleep, the last sound to fill my ears was the beating of my heart, and I knew I was slipping past the tideland, going beneath the ocean and sinking away from What Rocks."
Plot
Tideland centers on an abandoned child, Jeliza-Rose (Jodelle FerlandJodelle Ferland
Jodelle Micah Ferland is a Canadian actress, best known for her portrayal of Sharon and Alessa in the 2006 horror film Silent Hill, Mary Jensen in the 2004 miniseries Kingdom Hospital and her portrayal of Bree Tanner in the The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.-Life and career:Ferland was born in Nanaimo,...
), and her solitary adventures during one summer in rural Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
while staying at a rundown farmhouse called What Rocks, and focuses on the increasingly dark, imaginative fantasy
Fantasy (psychology)
Fantasy in a psychological sense is broadly used to cover two different senses, conscious and unconscious. In the unconscious sense, it is sometimes spelled "phantasy".-Conscious fantasy:...
life the girl creates with the aid of dismembered Barbie doll heads that she often wears on her fingertips. With names such as Mustique, Sateen Lips, Baby Blonde and Glitter Gal, the doll heads not only engage in long conversations with Jeliza-Rose, reflecting different aspects of the girl's psyche
Psyche (psychology)
The word psyche has a long history of use in psychology and philosophy, dating back to ancient times, and has been one of the fundamental concepts for understanding human nature from a scientific point of view. The English word soul is sometimes used synonymously, especially in older...
, but also act as her companions while she explores the barren Texas landscape.
After her mother (Jennifer Tilly
Jennifer Tilly
Jennifer Tilly is an American actress and poker player. She is an Academy Award nominee, and a World Series of Poker Ladies' Event bracelet winner. She is the older sister of actress Meg Tilly.-Early life:...
) overdoses on drugs, Jeliza-Rose and her father, Noah (Jeff Bridges
Jeff Bridges
Jeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges is an American actor and musician. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart....
), flee to Noah's mother's home, a remote Texas farmhouse. Noah fears that with all the drugs in their house he will lose Jeliza-Rose and be sent to prison, so he attempts to set it alight before they leave, although Jeliza-Rose manages to stop him. They find the farmhouse abandoned, but they settle in anyway. Their first night there, Noah dies from a heroin overdose. For much of the rest of the film, Noah's corpse remains seated upright in a living room chair with sunglasses covering his eyes. As her father slowly begins to rot, Jeliza-Rose doesn't readily acknowledge his death because she has grown accustomed to him being unconscious for long periods at a time. Instead, she retreats deeper and deeper into her own mind, exploring the tall grass around the farmhouse, relying on her doll heads for friendship as an unconscious way of keeping herself from feeling too lonely and afraid.
During Jeliza-Rose's wanderings, she eventually encounters and befriends her neighbors, a mentally impaired
Mental retardation
Mental retardation is a generalized disorder appearing before adulthood, characterized by significantly impaired cognitive functioning and deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors...
young man called Dickens (Brendan Fletcher
Brendan Fletcher
Brendan Fletcher is a Canadian actor.-Life and career:Fletcher was born in Comox Valley, British Columbia and went to junior high school at Lake Trail in Courtenay, British Columbia....
) and his older sister Dell (Janet McTeer
Janet McTeer
Janet McTeer, OBE is a British actress.-Life and career:McTeer was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom, the daughter of Jean and Alan McTeer...
) who is blind in one eye from a bee sting. At this point the story begins to unfold, revealing a past connection between Dell and Jeliza-Rose's deceased father. The eccentric neighbors take the girl under their wing, going so far as to preserve Noah's body via taxidermy
Taxidermy
Taxidermy is the act of mounting or reproducing dead animals for display or for other sources of study. Taxidermy can be done on all vertebrate species of animals, including mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians...
(which Dell and Dickens did to their own dead mother). Amorous feelings, initiated mostly by the much younger Jeliza-Rose, begin to creep into the child-like relationship between her and Dickens, and it is revealed that the deeply troubled Dickens, a man-child who once drove a school bus in front of an oncoming train, keeps a stash of dynamite
Dynamite
Dynamite is an explosive material based on nitroglycerin, initially using diatomaceous earth , or another absorbent substance such as powdered shells, clay, sawdust, or wood pulp. Dynamites using organic materials such as sawdust are less stable and such use has been generally discontinued...
in his bedroom that he intends to use against the Monster Shark he believes is roaming the countryside. The Monster Shark is, in reality, the nightly passenger train that travels past the farmhouse where Jeliza-Rose and her dead father reside.
What follows is literally an explosive conclusion to the film, one in which Dickens blasts a hole into the real world by dynamiting the train from its tracks, creating a scene of chaos near the farmhouse. Wandering about the wreckage, and among the confusion of injured travelers, Jeliza-Rose is discovered by a woman who survived, and she assumes the little girl is also a victim of the train wreck. The woman offers her a clementine while Dell frantically searches the wreck for signs of her brother Dickens.
Cast
- Jodelle FerlandJodelle FerlandJodelle Micah Ferland is a Canadian actress, best known for her portrayal of Sharon and Alessa in the 2006 horror film Silent Hill, Mary Jensen in the 2004 miniseries Kingdom Hospital and her portrayal of Bree Tanner in the The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.-Life and career:Ferland was born in Nanaimo,...
as Jeliza-Rose - Brendan FletcherBrendan FletcherBrendan Fletcher is a Canadian actor.-Life and career:Fletcher was born in Comox Valley, British Columbia and went to junior high school at Lake Trail in Courtenay, British Columbia....
as Dickens - Jeff BridgesJeff BridgesJeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges is an American actor and musician. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart....
as Noah, Jeliza-Rose's father - Jennifer TillyJennifer TillyJennifer Tilly is an American actress and poker player. She is an Academy Award nominee, and a World Series of Poker Ladies' Event bracelet winner. She is the older sister of actress Meg Tilly.-Early life:...
as Queen Gunhilda, Jeliza-Rose's mother - Janet McTeerJanet McTeerJanet McTeer, OBE is a British actress.-Life and career:McTeer was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom, the daughter of Jean and Alan McTeer...
as Dell - Dylan TaylorDylan TaylorDylan Taylor is a Canadian actor, best known for playing Steve Wassenfelder, the ship’s out of shape theoretical physicist on the TV series Defying Gravity.-Filmography:...
as Patrick - Wendy Anderson as Woman / Squirrel
- Sally Crooks as Dell's mother
Critical reception
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
's 2005 San Sebastian Festival
San Sebastián International Film Festival
The San Sebastián International Film Festival is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spanish city of San Sebastián .-History:The festival was founded in 1953...
, Tideland was awarded the esteemed FIPRESCI
FIPRESCI
The International Federation of Film Critics is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world for "the promotion and development of film culture and for the safeguarding of professional interests." It was founded in June 1930 in...
Prize, selected by an international jury of critics that, in their award statement, said: "Our jury focused on the international competition and found Terry Gilliam's Tideland to be the best film of the selection — a decision which provoked controversial reactions." The jury consisted of Andrei Plakhov
Andrei Plakhov
Andrei Stepanovich Plakhov is a Russian film critic and historian of cinema, columnist for Kommersant newspaper. President of the International Federation of Film Critics....
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, President (Kommersant
Kommersant
Kommersant is a commerce-oriented newspaper published in Russia. , the circulation was 131,000.- History :The newspaper was initially published in 1909, and it was closed down following the Bolshevik seizure of power and the introduction of censorship in 1917.In 1989, with the onset of press...
), Julio Feo Zarandieta, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
(Radio France Internationale
Radio France Internationale
Radio France Internationale was created in 1975 as part of Radio France by the Government of France, and replaced the Poste Colonial , Paris Mondial , Radio Paris , RTF Radio Paris and ORTF Radio Paris...
), Wolfgang Martin Hamdorf, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
(Film-Dienst), Massimo Causo, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
(Corriere Del Giorno), Sergi Sanchez, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
(La Razón
La Razón (Madrid)
La Razón is Spain's fifth highest-circulation general-interest daily newspaper based in Madrid. It is the newest of the five most read, having been founded in 1998 by Luis Maria Ansón....
).
In response to the controversy surrounding the film's FIPRESCI win at San Sebastian, jurist Sergi Sanchez wrote: "Gilliam's was the only one that dared to propose a risky and radical image, without any concessions, on a specific matter: madness as the only way of escaping in the face of a hostile environment. All this is endlessly coherent with the director's body of work, which has been frequently misunderstood by the critics, the industry, and audiences alike." Defending Gilliam's film while also placing it the context of the director's previous works, as well as explaining the jury's decision, Sanchez concluded by stating, "Fighting against windmills is, after all, the same as fighting against the prejudices that trap creative freedom."
However, many of the subsequent mainstream reviews of Tideland were largely mixed and often negative, with Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
being the only country where it was both a critical and box office
Box office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
success. The film was first released in Russia (February 2006) followed by the Netherlands (March 2006) and Greece (May 2006). After almost a year without any US distribution, the film was picked up for American release by ThinkFilm
THINKFilm
THINKFilm is a privately held production and distribution company founded in September 2001. It has been a division of David Bergstein’s Capitol Films since 2006. Bergstein also serves as the company’s chairman...
and subsequently opened in the US earning just $7,276 from one theater during its first week run. The film's release was then expanded to only nine theatres for a total domestic gross of $66,453. Since then, several independent cinemas and art museums went on to present the film as a special event, including IFC Center
IFC Center
IFC Center is an art house movie theater in Greenwich Village, New York City in the United States of America. It is located at 323 Sixth Avenue, on the former site of the Waverly Theater, which was itself a well known art house movie theater...
and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth was first granted a Charter from the State of Texas in 1892 as the "Fort Worth Public Library and Art Gallery", evolving through several name changes and different facilities in Fort Worth...
.
Gilliam has openly criticized ThinkFilm for the manner in which the company handled both the American theatrical release of the film, and their unauthorized tampering with the aspect ratio of the film for its US DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
release. He has also gone on record as saying that the initial reviews of nearly all his films have usually garnered mixed reactions from critics, and in at least one interview, as well as in the introduction to Tideland, he has stated that he believes many moviegoers will hate Tideland, others will love it, and some just won't know what to think about it. Gilliam has also said that Michael Palin
Michael Palin
Michael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries....
, another former member of Monty Python
Monty Python
Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
, had told him that the film was either the best thing he had ever done, or the worst — although Palin himself couldn’t quite decide either way.
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
critic Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman is an American film critic for Entertainment Weekly, a position he has held since the magazine's launch in 1990. From 1981–89, he worked at the Boston Phoenix....
gave Tideland an "F", calling it "gruesomely awful". In the subsequent review of the DVD release, Gleiberman's fellow Entertainment Weekly critic Clark Collis gave the film a "B" and stated: "Terry Gilliam's grim fairy tale is another fantastic(al) showcase for his visual talents."
The film received a "two thumbs way down" rating from Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Richard E. Roeper is an American columnist and film critic for The Chicago Sun-Times and now a co-host on The Roe Conn Show on WLS-AM...
and guest critic A.O. Scott on the television show Ebert & Roeper. Scott said that toward the end, the film was "creepy, exploitive, and self-indulgent," a sentiment that was echoed in his New York Times review of the film. Like Scott, Roeper had a strong negative opinion, saying, "I hated this film," and "I came very close to walking out of the screening room. And I never do that." In the Chicago Reader, critic Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum is an American film critic. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for the Chicago Reader from 1987 until 2008, when he retired at the age of 65...
dismissed the film as "extremely unpleasant" and warned readers, "Enter this diseased Lewis Carroll universe at your own risk."
The Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
critic Michael Wilmington, however, praised the film further stating that "...it's crazy, dangerous and sometimes gorgeous...", and Harry Knowles
Harry Knowles
Harry Knowles is known for his website called Ain't It Cool News. Knowles is a member of the Austin Film Critics Association.-Biography:...
of Ain't It Cool News
Ain't It Cool News
Ain't It Cool News is a website founded and run by Harry Knowles, dedicated to news, rumors and reviews of upcoming and currently playing films and television projects, with an emphasis on science fiction, fantasy, horror, comic-book and action genres...
wrote, "TIDELAND, for me, is a masterpiece", a blurb
Blurb
A blurb is a short summary or some words of praise accompanying a creative work, usually used on books without giving away any details, that is usually referring to the words on the back of the book jacket but also commonly seen on DVD and video cases, web portals, and news websites.- History :The...
featured on the DVD release.
Filmmaker David Cronenberg
David Cronenberg
David Paul Cronenberg, OC, FRSC is a Canadian filmmaker, screenwriter and actor. He is one of the principal originators of what is commonly known as the body horror or venereal horror genre. This style of filmmaking explores people's fears of bodily transformation and infection. In his films, the...
described the film as a "poetic horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
", a quote which was used in the advertising campaign for the theatrical release.
Filmmaker Rian Johnson
Rian Johnson
Rian Craig Johnson is an American writer and director, who won the Special Jury Prize for Originality of Vision at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival with his debut feature, Brick.-Background:...
named Tideland and The Fountain
The Fountain
The Fountain is a 2006 American romantic drama film, which blends elements of fantasy, history, religion, and science fiction. It was directed by Darren Aronofsky, and starred Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz...
as his favorite films of 2006.
In the July 16, 2007 online edition of Independent Film Channel
Independent Film Channel
The Independent Film Channel is an American cable TV network that airs independent film and related programming. IFC programming includes commercially interrupted feature-length films, original documentaries, shorts, animated series, original series, acquired series, and content exclusively for...
News, Michael Atkinson
Michael Atkinson (writer)
Michael Atkinson is an American writer, poet and film critic. His debut novel is Hemingway Deadlights , and he has written film and culture critiques for The Believer, Sight & Sound, The Guardian, Film Comment, The Village Voice, In These Times, True/Slant, SPiN, Maxim, The Boston Phoenix,...
published a comparative film review of Harry Kümel's rarely seen Malpertuis
Malpertuis (film)
Malpertuis is a 1971 Belgian fantasy-horror directed by Harry Kümel, based on the novel of the same name...
(1971) and Tideland. Atkinson posits that a historical perspective has made Kümel's previously scorned film a more viable creation when far removed from the cultural context in which it was first released. He goes on to argue that Tideland could be the 21st century counterpart to Malpertuis, suggesting that Gilliam's film "is a snark-hunted freak just waiting for its historical moment, decades from now, when someone makes a case for it as a neglected masterpiece."
DVD release
The DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
of Tideland was released on February 27, 2007. It is a 2-disc "Collector's Edition", with a commentary track, many interviews, deleted scene
Deleted scene
In Entertainment, especially the film and television industry, Deleted scenes are parts of a film removed or censored from or replaced by another scene in the final "cut", or version, of a film...
s (only with a forced commentary over the original audio), and a making-of documentary entitled Getting Gilliam
Getting Gilliam
Getting Gilliam is a 2005 documentary film directed by Vincenzo Natali about the making of Terry Gilliam's film Tideland.-Cast:*Mitch Cullin - Himself*Brendan Fletcher - Himself*Terry Gilliam - Himself*Gabriella Martinelli - Himself...
, made by Cube
Cube (film)
Cube is a 1997 Canadian science fiction psychological thriller/horror film directed by Vincenzo Natali. The film was a successful product of the Canadian Film Centre's First Feature Project....
director Vincenzo Natali
Vincenzo Natali
Vincenzo Natali is an American-Canadian film director and screenwriter, best known for writing and directing science fiction films such as Cube, Nothing and Splice.-Early life:...
.
There has been some controversy among fans over the aspect ratio presented on the Region 1 DVD released by ThinkFilm for the United States; the film is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.77:1 instead of the aspect ratio prepared and approved by Gilliam and the director of photography (in theaters, it was shown in 2.35:1, but Gilliam wanted to open up the image slightly; somewhere between 2.10:1 and 2.25:1). There were early reports that other regions, and Canada (region 1), had the theatrical aspect ratio, but these have proven false, although the region 2 UK disc is slightly closer to Gilliam's intended aspect ratio. Both the distributor, ThinkFilm, and director, Gilliam, have publicly stated that they are working on a solution to the ratio problem and will release a corrected version for sale as soon as possible.
There have been recent rumors that the region 3 DVD features the fully corrected transfer. The rumor has come into question with the (supposed) screen capture of the region 3 (Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
) release.
Furthermore, the EuroVideo / Concorde Home Entertainment release has been independently verified to follow the 2.35:1 ratio which is closer to the much wanted 2.25:1 ratio (see pics).
OFDb.de states the same reported ratio.
Awards and recognition
Won- San Sebastian FestivalSan Sebastián International Film FestivalThe San Sebastián International Film Festival is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spanish city of San Sebastián .-History:The festival was founded in 1953...
(2005)- FIPRESCIFIPRESCIThe International Federation of Film Critics is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world for "the promotion and development of film culture and for the safeguarding of professional interests." It was founded in June 1930 in...
Prize
- FIPRESCI
Nominated
- Golden Trailer AwardsGolden Trailer AwardsThe Golden Trailer Awards is an annual awards show that honors achievements in motion picture marketing, including film trailers, posters and television advertisements.- Overview :...
(2006)- "Most Original Foreign Trailer".
- Saturn AwardSaturn AwardThe Saturn Award is an award presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films to honor the top works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. The Saturn Awards were devised by Dr. Donald A. Reed in 1972, who felt that films within...
(2007)- Best Performance by a Young Actor (Jodelle FerlandJodelle FerlandJodelle Micah Ferland is a Canadian actress, best known for her portrayal of Sharon and Alessa in the 2006 horror film Silent Hill, Mary Jensen in the 2004 miniseries Kingdom Hospital and her portrayal of Bree Tanner in the The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.-Life and career:Ferland was born in Nanaimo,...
).
- Best Performance by a Young Actor (Jodelle Ferland
- 27th Genie Awards27th Genie AwardsThe 27th Genie Awards were held on February 13, 2007 to honour films released in 2006. The ceremony was located at the Carlu theatre in Toronto....
(2007)- Best Actress (Jodelle FerlandJodelle FerlandJodelle Micah Ferland is a Canadian actress, best known for her portrayal of Sharon and Alessa in the 2006 horror film Silent Hill, Mary Jensen in the 2004 miniseries Kingdom Hospital and her portrayal of Bree Tanner in the The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.-Life and career:Ferland was born in Nanaimo,...
) - Art Direction/Production Design (Jasna Stefanovic)
- Cinematography (Nicola PecoriniNicola PecoriniNicola Pecorini is an Italian-born cinematographer.Pecorini was born in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He founded, with Garrett Brown, inventor of the steadicam, the Steadicam Operators Association, Inc. , in 1988. Pecorini moved to the States in 1993...
) - Costume design (Mario Davignon)
- Editing (Lesley WalkerLesley WalkerLesley Walker is a BAFTA Award-nominated film editor. She is a constant collaborator with directors Terry Gilliam and Richard Attenborough.-Selected filmography:Filmography based on the listing at the Internet Movie Database.*The Tempest...
) - Overall Sound.
- Best Actress (Jodelle Ferland
See also
- Works influenced by Alice in WonderlandWorks influenced by Alice in WonderlandLewis Carroll's books Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass have been highly popular in their original forms, and have served as the basis for many subsequent works since they were published...
- List of books portraying paedophilia or sexual abuse of minors