Tideland divides opinion. Some reviewers find it "a complete bore and a creepy experience," while others consider it a masterpiece. With Jodelle in the very central role of Jeliza Rose, I wouldn't deem the movie a bore, but it's not necessarily a masterpiece either.

Jeliza enters the story preparing, as an obvious matter of routine, a heroin dose for her father Noah (Jeff Bridges, The Door in the Floor), and helping him inject it. The scene is one of the deliberate and very successful shockers.

After her archetypal junkie mother dies, Jeliza and Noah leave for his mother's house somewhere in the prairies. The shabby house turns out to be long abandoned, which doesn't prevent Noah from settling in, shooting up, and once again leaving Jeliza to her own devices.

To keep her company Jeliza has four disturbing doll heads and her vivid imagination. Within a few days Noah overdoses and dies silently in his chair. When Jeliza realizes he's dead, she mostly shuts out the knowledge, just as she's had to shut out so many things about her parents in the past. She starts living increasingly in a world of make-believe.

Soon Jeliza discovers two people living nearby, a severely retarded young man called Dickens and his older sister Dell, who is always dressed in black and behaves like a recluse witch. In Dickens, whose mind is in many ways child-like, Jeliza finds a playmate with a fantasy world of his own.

One aspect of their relationship emerges when Dickens explains that his grandmother used to French kiss him when he was a child. To demonstrate, and perhaps also to display his fondness for Jeliza, he gives her a little kiss. She giggles and calls him a silly kisser. They give each other a couple more childish pecks.

Jeliza seems to have a preteen crush on Dickens, and makes a game of it, playing house with him and pretending to be his wife. This makes Dickens nervous, but Jeliza's will is much stronger than his. Later Dickens' sexual interest becomes more apparent, and Jeliza seems to enjoy the attention. Nothing much results of it however, and Jeliza likely couldn't be pressured by Dickens into doing anything against her will anyway.

These scenes are too much for many critics, and are most likely no small reason for them finding the movie creepy. That's probably a necessary side effect of director Terry Gilliam's accomplished goal of rousing emotion in the audience.

Another element sure to produce a reaction is the sight of dead Noah who remains seated where he died, swollen blue tongue protruding from his mouth, belly bloated. As part of her games, Jeliza puts a wig and makeup on him, doubling the macabre effect.

Jodelle's role as Jeliza is essential, and in many long sequences she's the only character, often talking with the doll heads. I'm undecided about her acting. A little too often I felt it's not Jeliza I'm watching, but Jodelle trying to be Jeliza. On the other hand, all the characters are unreservedly exaggerated, so perhaps a strange impression is merely the norm for this movie. Many other reviewers have praised Jodelle's performance, and none have commented on it negatively. At the very least, like the movie itself, her role is an interesting one.

Jodelle was chosen for the role in part because of her unsentimental acting. As dire as Jeliza's situation is, she shows almost no obvious signs of unhappiness. Instead, reality surfaces only through her games, such as the eerie conversations with the doll heads. This approach is much as in Alice in Wonderland, to which the movie makes several explicit references.

There are some extras on the DVD, the longest one 45 minutes, with some appearances from Jodelle. The extras as well as the commentary track are quite good, providing insight into the film's complexities and creative processes.

Tideland is a mixed bag and defies easy categorization beyond "typical Terry Gilliam." If "Alice in Wonderland meets Psycho" is your cup of tea, then likely so is Tideland.