Imaginaerum (2012)

"I'll hope to hear the chords played again one day. Without them I'm lost in this nothingness."

A Finnish-Canadian film, directed and co-written by Storbe Harju as well as being developed and features the music band, Nightwish. Imaginaerum is a fantasy-musical film that tells the story of a 75 year old former musician, Thomas Whitman, who suffers from Dementia. After suffering a stroke and lying unconscious on the hospital bed, his estranged daughter begins to discover more about her father's life through series of written lyrics he kept in his safe. We also enter into Thomas' mind, a dream like fantasy world, as he tries to recall the events in his past as well as trying to recover memories most precious to him.

Follow the white rabbit?

This is perhaps the most interesting film I've seen. It's a rather unique film that blends art and music. It feels very much like a piece of an artwork or a poetry that's meant to bring out the aesthetic side of you and spur emotions and brings out a message to the audience. It has a theme reminiscence of the Christmas Carol and Alice in Wonderland, but it also conveys a message on life and death and holding on to what's most precious in life. There's also inspiration from Tim Burton's work, especially that of the design of the snowman, which is very similar to Jack Skellington from Nightmare before Christmas. The cinematography is brilliant, the scene works out like an artist canvas with the artist using the variety of colours to bring meaning to the art he's painting. Full of symbolism and imagery, that I don't think I'll ever get to fully understand what's going on at times. But I must say, it's a beautiful piece of artwork that gives you something to contemplate on.

There's a lot of symbolism and imagery with hidden meaning throughout the film.

Even the colours used has a meaning behind them.

 Sometimes, it feels like the film plays out like a really long music video. It showcased the music from the symphonic metal band, Nightwish. The music is just as important as the cinematography. There's a lot of meaning behind the lyrics which brings depth to what's portraying on scene. I bet a musician or a Nightwish fan or even a film student can appreciate and understand the meaning behind all of it. But I for one is left very intrigue of its meaning but not really up to analyzing everything. However, I really enjoyed the music. It's not only beautiful, but emotional and really brings out a lot of character to the scene.

This film is dedicated solely for Nightwish fans

 As far as the acting goes, it's just sub-par. But it's not very bad that it's a distraction, it works just enough to tell the story. There were scenes that features the band singing and playing. And if you're a Nightwish fan, you'll be happy to see Tuomas Holopainen had a significant role in the film. However, he doesn't do much acting in it. He also co-written the story and I'm curious if the story of Thomas had borrow elements from Tuomas' life story. As for the visual effects, I'm impressed by it. It's not as elaborate as Tim Burton's world, and like the acting, it's good enough to carry out the story without being a distraction.

There's a lot more going on in this film. You have to watch it several times to get a better understanding.

This one is quite cool. It shows how something in Thomas' past affects the events later in his life...

Inception Style

Overall, it feels to me like a very interesting artwork that blends cinematography, art and music. It would really appeals the aesthetic side of some people. There's just so much more to it with its music, lyrics, imagery and story, that if you take the time to watch several times, listen to the music, you'll be able to appreciate the beauty of the film to the fullest. But on face value, I find this film confusing at times and but very much intrigue, but it's not something I would watch if I want to be entertain or relax after a difficult day. But this film reminded me of a time when movies were all about art and not just a means for a money making in the film industry. I would give this an 3 out of 10 princess Arabesque snowglobe.

When I heard this dude speak, I thought Steve Martin's Inspector Jacques Clouseau is behind the mask.