Movie - Tideland

[Scrivener]

This is destined to be THE most polarizing movie ever made. Walking out, I didn't know how to feel. I felt a little dirty and a little depressed... just like the first time I saw Requiem for a Dream (or Naked Lunch)... but...

I absolutely guarantee that anyone who sits through the whole movie is going to be faced with this very same dilema. I can tell you, however, that the friend I dragged to the show with me thought it was the single most horrible film he's ever seen. I really can't blame him, either.

Tideland is sick, twisted, slow, and horrible to watch. The movie is about a little girl named Joliza-Rose, and it's told primarily from this girls viewpoint... but being as an educated adult and member of the audience, you know what is actually going on even when Joliza-Rose doesn't (often escaping into her imagination). It's a very, very, VERY challenging movie... so much so that it took me two full days to completely decide how I felt about it.

This is one of the most important films ever made, and it is going to destroy Gilliam's career.

===MINOR SPOILERS===

Joliza-Rose cooks up the heroin for her druggy low-life parents, and even helps them inject themselves. Early on, her horrible abusive mother dies of an overdose. Her panicked druggy father then spirits her off to the prairie house he grew up in - which is falling apart in middle of nowhere. Once there she copes with death, starvation, isolation, and loneliness by escaping into her imagination.

===END SPOILERS===

The film addresses such sickening topics as: drug abuse, death, pedophelia, necrophelia, starvation, and more. I cried at the end, I felt so bad for this little girl - and her last words "I'm hungry" just broke me.

In all, I can't give this a numerical score. You'll probably hate it. You're supposed to, though. This is a window into a horrible, horrible situation - through the eyes of an innocent, naive, imaginative little girl.

If you find this playing nearby, I promise you only the most emotionally challenging cinematic experience you are ever likely to have. Nothing more.

[Supreme Cmdr]

....and the movie is about what exactly?

[Scrivener]

It's about how this girl copes with the horrible world around her. Gilliam has always said that he thinks healthy kids are much tougher than adults (and certainly tougher than adults give them credit for), and this movie carries on that theme in his work.

It's hard to describe, as there's no clean narrative. The only real question is "What is going to happen to Joliza-Rose?" In the end, that question is indeed answered.