Back-shelf pick: 'The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus'

“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” (2009) — Monty Python alumnus Terry Gilliam’s latest film represents his most visionary work since “Brazil.” The story about a monk/wizard/carnival barker (Christopher Plummer) whose magic mirror takes visitors on journeys inside their wildest dreams, proves terribly muddled and confusing. But the images are mind-blowing.

Heath Ledger, who plays an amnesiac stranger taken in by Parnassus’ carnival, died halfway through filming. Gilliam brilliantly created the conceit that visitors to the imaginarium see themselves differently on the other side, paving the way for three other actors to fill out the rest of Ledger’s part.