Pete Marchetto A fan of Gilliam's work but long out of the loop, I stumbled upon Tideland quite by chance knowing nothing about it. I settled down with it my expectations high.My early impression as the film unfolded was that the grotesque realism was laid on rather too thickly, and yet it never quite managed to reach the heights of true grotesquerie. With an intentionally Gothic backdrop, for example, it may have worked. Instead, the realism of the presentation just left me feeling it was overblown. The adaptation of a young girl to a clearly very dysfunctional family environment seemed unbelievable, particularly in her maintenance of her innocence. The many breaks I took here, and throughout what was to follow, were to some small degree motivated by discomfort by what was portrayed, but mostly I was just bored. Somehow the presumably grotesque seemed banal. In trying to confine itself within the bounds of realism, it failed by becoming unbelievable.I felt nothing for the central character, nor for her parents. Nor was I to subsequently develop any empathy with the central character or the two other main characters she was subsequently to meet.Some of the acting was good, though never excellent. Take a star for that. Likewise some of the camera-work. The ending almost made me feel perhaps the whole exercise hadn't been a complete waste of my time, but not quite. Still, another star for that and... well, that's about it.This being Gilliam, I turned to many of the good reviews this film received in search of what I must surely have missed, but found glowing arguments unconvincing. I'll probably read the novel at some point in further quest of enlightenment. But for now, my apologies, Mr. G. This is not a worthy addition to your body of work.

nighthouse66-1 Nope. Don't get it. Someone mentioned this film had "balls"....ok. It seemed as if Gilliam wanted to make his own version of "Freeway" but using, instead of a Little Red Riding Hood archetype, Alice in Wonderland. OK. Promising. But the film just HANGS wrong. It just doesn't ever feel as funny, or as weird, or as interesting as it should be. The little girl is cute, but a little bit too much of a ham to be believable. As soon as she started talking I could imagine her on stage in "Annie" or something, eating up the scenery. Which is fine, I guess, but it doesn't exactly translate to much of anything. And it certainly doesn't hang well with the obvious comic-book dysfunction she spent her entire life in. Everything feels like a caricature, and you can't get close to caricatures. Its just a blender of weirdness- the sort of weirdness people seem to grab for in place of inspiration. Some people might see it as inspired, but to me it looks like someone is working too hard to be weird.

Voyou Nobodysbusiness Tideland starts by plunging me back into Fear & Loathing, so unbearable a film that I couldn't finish it. However, I manage to coat my nerves with whatever I can find in my body and I try to get into this one, because, you know, Terry Gilliam...I can't take TG's junkies seriously. They numb my feelings, and specially my empathy. Their hysteria only makes me want to punch them. As I hoped and expected, these characters are soon taken out of the story, and we now concentrate on a little girl.Not to my benefit. It's not the little actress' fault if she hurts my ears; she does a fine job for a person of her age. It's just that some of us are wusses with sensitive ears that can't take endless high-pitch monologues between little girls and their dolls.Then there's the first reference to Alice in Wonderland. I abruptly realise... I'm watching the millionth take on the most unimaginative book in the history of booking. My singing umbrella agrees with me when we play fufuball with the purple panda and the Cloud of Tomorrow. Anyway, I can watch this. I've done it before. Competent hands can work with it. The signs are there. The squirrel isn't carrying a clock.I'm yawning now. The sound is annoying. The plot is annoying also, since the little girl has lost her common sense and her sense of smell. Okay, let's be fair: she had never displayed the latter before; my bad for assuming she had one.When I see other characters coming into play, I have a moment of hope. Briefly. They end up being as hysterically annoying as the junkies. This movie is a farce. The constant frenzy annihilates the possibility of any emotion. It creates a wall, through which I still can discern all the strong emotions that Gilliam is trying to infuse. He has failed to touch me.Most likely, you don't share my heart rate. Or my auricular sensitivities. Maybe your nerves won't be scratched like mine when you watch Tideland. Then go for it: the cinematography is great, the story original and very mature. You'll probably be bored though; I only described the flaws that mattered most to me.Early on, Tideland brought me back a whiff of The Lovely Bones. They end up being worlds apart. I love this P.Jackson's piece, whereas I consider Tideland the second hiccup in T. Gilliam's wonderful filmography. I don't expect it to be the last. He can reach the highest levels as a director because he takes risks, so he is also bound to fail sometimes.

weasl-729-310682 Very strange movie, which I expected after reading about it.Still, praise whatever you believe in that most of existence is not so bizarre. Like some other reviewers, I need some processing time on this one.I'll watch it again, though. Maybe I'll get a little more in the loop, because I feel altogether outside of it right now after having watched "Tideland" for the first time. Also, no clue where the name came from.Interesting to see Jeff Bridges in such a creepy, scruffy role. Wow!We don't get to see much of Jennifer Tilly either, and I wouldn't have recognized her except for her distinctive voice. Very daring of her to appear with a protruding belly and unrestrained pendulous breasts in the very unglamorous scene sprawled on the bed. Sometimes this can be Oscar fodder; not so much here.Jodelle Ferland is astonishing in her role. I hope she had a lot of support during her performances, because no child should ever have to endure anything close to it in real life.I may well return to update this review, and will certainly return with a star rating. I just need to watch again and hopefully get my brain better wrapped around this extremely unsettling, but also engaging trip down the Rabbit Hole!