Tideland (2005)

The Worst Film Ever

not as good as all the hype

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Well, I'm not entirely surprised at the number of bad reviews, because some of this is shocking and other parts perplexing, but on the whole, it is exceptional. It is a study in how a child protected herself from her unbearable reality by retreating into a fantasy world. She "bounced," to put it in Gilliam's words. Quirky, quaint, enchanting...or bizarre, horrific and irritating? Maybe all of the above? Gilliam suggested in the beginning that this all becomes very different seen through the eyes of the child--and that is certainly the key. Don't interpret it your way--interpret it her way. If it is not normalized, it becomes explicable. And a little sad, a little wistful and, yes, a little heroic, too. What allows this great concept to work is Jodelle Ferland, who delivers an amazing child performance. Gilliam wisely wraps the movie around her as well as her character. I liked it a lot.

I'll never watch it again.The acting was good. The directing was good. The script, the set design, the costumes, the cinematography were all good, but I'm still giving Tideland one star.The movie is horrifying, and not in a fun way. The entire movie you're worried the little four-year-old girl is about to be raped to death by heroine addicts, or worse. The best thing that happens in the entire movie is a gritty, realistic train wreck.Gilliam says he set out to make people uncomfortable by putting a little girl in peril. He did a bang up job. I have not met anyone that would watch this movie a second time. And I wouldn't trust anyone who did.

I don't know what to say about this film. I'm not saying it's bad...I think. But I'm not saying it's good...I think...I don't know! Terry Gilliam said most of us will hate this movie and some of us will love it, and some of us won't know what to think of it. I'm one of those people; I don't know what to think of it. I don't like it but I also don't dislike it...it's very confusing, I know, but that's what's going through my head after watching this. 'Tideland' disturbed me, but not like 'Freddy Got Fingered' did where it was shockingly bad. This is so bizarre, so creepy, so awkward, so uncomfortable...that there is no way to tell you if it's a good movie or a bad movie or a decent movie. First, lets talk about the only thing I know is good like our protagonist, Jeliza-Rose played by Jodelle Ferland. As far as child actors go she's actually pretty damn good. The first time I saw her was on a short lived TV series called 'Kingdom Hostpital' by my hero Stephen King, and she was pretty creepy but also innocent. Then I saw her in 'Silent Hill' where she was, once again, creepy. She did pretty good. Then I saw her in this when I was 14. I didn't know what to think then and nothing has changed when I saw it the second time. Jodelle plays a little girl who, raised by her irresponsible parents, lives in her own little fantasy world. And that's where everything gets awkward and corny. But I honestly think this the most realistic child character I have ever seen but then it goes a little too far with her imagination; she may seem like a kid just stuck in her little fantasy world where she can't tell what's real or what's in her mind, but I think she's completely lost it. She ignores the big things happening in the real world like her dad being dead instead of sleeping or a train blows up and she thinks it's a monster shark that needed to die, completely ignoring the hundreds of people that almost died. She befriends this young guy (who sets up the dynamite to blow up the train) where it gets very uncomfortable later on. There's a scene where he's on top of her and they're both sticking their tongues out at each other in a licking motion. What the f#ck? Was nobody freaked out by that scene? Then, there's this scene where these doll heads are inside Jeff Bridges' belly and one of them is getting a new brain? It comes right out of nowhere and it is only referenced once and then forgotten. Weird. So...yeah this movie is very, very, very bizarre. I get what Gilliam was trying to do but that doesn't make it any better...or worse...you see what it's doing to me? He wanted it to be his own little 'Alice in Wonderlan', an experience. A delusional little's girl's view of the world. But to me, she seems a little more...insane. So this is a little bit different from Gilliam's other works but it kind of reminds me of 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'; a surreal experience. I can't tell you to to avoid it because you won't understand until you've actually seen it. Again, good? Bad? Okay? I don't know. I just don't know. Between you and me, I think this is Jodelle Ferland's cutest yet creepies performance of her life.

Just got done with this movie and I must say it drags on somewhat, similar to the way Fear and Loathing did for me. The dialogue is done in a way that it defies you to listen to it and absorb anything. I tried to watch Fear and Loathing 3 times and could never finish it. I finished Tideland, but it wasn't that great. I will say Jodelle Ferland and Brendan Fletcher are SUPERB in their roles as Jeliza Rose and Dickens, but it feels like 2 great performances in a boring, supposed-to-shock-me, Natural Born Killers-esque affair that has already been done. Then again, the film challenges me in that I am appalled that I am not appalled by the things I see here, so it has some social merit, of sorts.Overall, my feeling is that Terry Gilliam's best work is long behind him, like 12 Monkeys and Brazil, Time Bandits, Python, etc. I think sometimes filmmakers get older and lose their edge, falling victim to sentimentality, and it changes their art (usually for the worse, imho.) It is beginning to seem this is the case with Gilliam. I didn't like Imaginarium, either, btw. I saw That before I saw this.