The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a fantastical morality tale, set in the present day. It tells the story of Dr Parnassus and his extraordinary 'Imaginarium', a travelling show where members of the audience get an irresistible opportunity to choose between light and joy or darkness and gloom. Blessed with the extraordinary gift of guiding the imaginations of others, Dr Parnassus is cursed with a dark secret. Long ago he made a bet with the devil, Mr Nick, in which he won immortality. Many centuries later, on meeting his one true love, Dr Parnassus made another deal with the devil, trading his immortality for youth, on condition that when his first-born reached its 16th birthday he or she would become the property of Mr Nick. Valentina is now rapidly approaching this 'coming of age' milestone and Dr Parnassus is desperate to protect her from her impending fate. Mr Nick arrives to collect but, always keen to make a bet, renegotiates the wager. Now the winner of Valentina will be determined by whoever seduces the first five souls. Enlisting a series of wild, comical and compelling characters in his journey, Dr Parnassus promises his daughter's hand in marriage to the man that helps him win. In this captivating, explosive and wonderfully imaginative race against time, Dr Parnassus must fight to save his daughter in a never-ending landscape of surreal obstacles - and undo the mistakes of his past once and for all...

Directed by Terry Gilliam and written by Gilliam and Charles McKeown.

 

I've always been a Terry Gilliam fan, and this doesn't seem to be a disappointment. It looks awesome! Plus it's the last of movie of Heath

 

Release dates according to IMDB

France 22 May 2009 (Cannes Film Festival)

Germany 26 June 2009 (Munich International Film Festival)

Italy 16 October 2009

UK 16 October 2009

Australia 29 October 2009

New Zealand 29 October 2009

Belgium 11 November 2009

France 11 November 2009

Germany 3 December 2009

Netherlands 3 December 2009

I saw the trailer. Must be interesting. I'm almost sure I will go to the cinema to check this! :D

Sounds like typical Terry Gilliam "out-there-ness", and that is certainly no bad thing, seems to be a bit based on the story of Dr Faustus as well.... I'm always happy to see Gilliam make new films, he really is a visionary film-maker, but he's had so many problems in the past with studio interference (the most notorious being his battle to save his ending of the brilliant, surreal "Brazil" against Warner Bros).. When left to his own devices he comes up with virtual genius - Brazil, Time Bandits, Twelve Monkeys, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.... His last film, "The Brothers Grimm", was seriously compromised...

Excitementttt. This looks good. ;o Too bad it comes out so late in the US. :( Christmas. I presume whoever is distributing it here wants to rake in some $$ which blows tbh. Though simultaneously people see movies around Christmas and I want to see this do well, so I shall wait. ;o