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The Man Who Killed Don Quixote

Started by Shaky, May 25, 2016, 04:24:02 AM

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Replies From View

Quote from: Funcrusher on June 19, 2018, 12:20:18 PM
Nah, he loves the whole 'everything's against me, the man's putting me down and even the elements conspire against me' thing. He'll be loving this.

He strikes me as the kind of person who would suffer immense lows.  If not bipolar then something else.  I think he'd be crushed by this, assuming it's not all a publicity stunt to bring spice to an otherwise uneventful final phase of the Don Quixote saga.

Small Man Big Horse

This is finally coming out in the US in March 2019 - https://www.indiewire.com/2018/12/terry-gilliam-the-man-who-killed-don-quixote-us-release-1202028545/ - so hopefully a UK release will follow.

I'm also predicting that Gilliam will die on February 28th.

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on December 18, 2018, 05:21:22 PM
This is finally coming out in the US in March 2019 - https://www.indiewire.com/2018/12/terry-gilliam-the-man-who-killed-don-quixote-us-release-1202028545/ - so hopefully a UK release will follow.

I'm also predicting that Gilliam will die on February 28th.

Either that or more "stuff" will come out about him and he'll be arrested/ruined.

Small Man Big Horse

A blu-ray rip of this has now leaked, presumably because the universe wants the film to flop badly upon release.

St_Eddie

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on January 13, 2019, 01:55:45 PM
A blu-ray rip of this has now leaked, presumably because the universe wants the film to flop badly upon release.

Pretty sure that it was always destined to flop, regardless.  It's a long gestating curio for cinephiles.  It was never going to attract anything approaching a mainstream audience and will quite frankly, be lucky to make back its production budget upon theatrical release, much less turn a profit.  I'm just glad that it exists, as I'm sure Terry Gilliam is.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: St_Eddie on January 13, 2019, 07:31:25 PM
Pretty sure that it was always destined to flop, regardless.  It's a long gestating curio for cinephiles.  It was never going to attract anything approaching a mainstream audience and will quite frankly, be lucky to make back its production budget upon theatrical release, much less turn a profit.  I'm just glad that it exists, as I'm sure Terry Gilliam is.

True, but it does seem to add insult to injury that people can now see it for free before it's even released in cinemas in the UK and US.

I'm currently 30 minutes in and enjoying it to a certain extent, and hopefully it'll improve from this point in now that everything's been set up.

Replies From View

Is there a link for this that could be sent to me, please?  Google isn't helping me.

Don't worry, it won't stop me spending money on it later.

Small Man Big Horse

I'm sorry but I'm appalled by movie piracy and have reported your post requesting a copy to the police. (But check your pms and someone else might have helped you out).

Rev+

Terry Gilliam's Mulholland Drive.

Rather than going for the three act structure, he tends to stake out a definite start and a definite end, and then everything in between can wobble all over the place for as long as it likes.  As much as I love some of his films, they do tend to drag on first viewing because unless you're looking at the running time you've no idea where you are in them.

This dragged like fuck, but I'm pretty sure it won't on a second viewing, now I know the layout.  The story - or at least the telling - seems to have changed quite a bit from the abandoned version, or at least how it was described.  The swirly uncertainty of it all works a lot better than the time travel idea.  It's pretty much Brazil with a few of the settings tweaked and some turned up to the max, which isn't a bad thing.

Head Gardener



just heard today Katherine Helmond of Time Bandits, Brazil and Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas has passed R.I.P.

Small Man Big Horse

Can't be arsed to start a new thread but Gilliam is being a dick again (while promoting the film, so it kind of ties in) saying stuff like: "'I'm tired of being, as a white male, blamed for everything that's wrong in the world. So now I want you to call me Loretta. I'm a black lesbian in transition." https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2019/04/16/42817/terry_gilliam:_as_a_white_man_i_feel_excluded_now


PlanktonSideburns

It's so  hard being a gammon!

Come see the new film I've just had put out!

Brilliant terry

momatt

Hopefully that's taken out of context, but that sounds like a stupid thing to say.


Noodle Lizard

Has anyone else watched this, then?

Replies From View

Quote from: Noodle Lizard on April 25, 2019, 11:03:34 AM
Has anyone else watched this, then?

I have it downloaded and watching it is on my to-do list.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Noodle Lizard on April 25, 2019, 11:03:34 AM
Has anyone else watched this, then?

Yeah, I watched it shortly after posting about the blu-ray leak, I was sure I'd written a mini-review but I must have imagined it. Anyhow, here's the full rambling piece I wrote for my site:

Terry Gilliam's long gestating project was for many years one of the most famous unmade films ever known, what with the documentary Lost In La Mancha released back in 2002 covering his first attempt at making it which was beset with problems including flash floods damaging valuable equipment and lead actor Jean Rochefort getting injured, meaning filming had to be put on hold for months on end and then the money ran out. Plagued by such horrendous bad luck many thought he'd never get the chance to make it, but in 2017 with a new cast he finally finished filming and it should have been released last year, but of course life's never that simple for Gilliam and a legal fight with the producer ensued and so it was delayed. Now that's been resolved and it's finally out at cinemas the question everyone's asking is was it worth the wait? And so you don't have to skip down to the end of the review to find out I'll answer it now – No, of course not. But despite it's flaws it's without doubt an intriguing work and much better than any of Gilliam's other recent films.

It's a meta affair where Tony (Adam Driver) is directing a commercial based on Don Quixote but is struggling to get it to work. Stellan Skarsgård plays a character known only as The Boss who's funding the work, and arse kissing producer Rupert (Jason Watkins, superb as always) is on hand to fluff the ego of anyone important. But when Tony happens to find a copy of his student film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote we cut back to the making of it, where Toby finds Javier (Jonathan Pryce), a humble Spanish shoemaker and casts him as his Quixote along with other village folk who make up the rest of his cast. It then turns out that the current production just happens to be close to the village he shot his student film and so he decides to visit it, and once back there he meets Javier again and finds that he's gone full on crazy and believes himself to be Don Quixote.

It's a curious beast and a film which only partially works. The first hour and a half is frothy and light with a lot of very likeable moments, it's charming and then some and Jonathan Pryce is quite frankly superb, it's a career best and that's saying something considering the amount of great performances the man has turned in. But it's a film that the more you think about it the lesser a piece it becomes, and it just doesn't stand up to scrutiny. An enormous amount of extremely convenient coincidences take place from Toby meeting Javier again to the way he bumps in to romantic interest Angelica (Joana Ribeiro) and various other characters, and it makes the film feel contrived. The satire of the movie industry is heavy handed to say the least, and on a very literal basis it's about a man with a severe mental illness, the film does touch upon this but only briefly and it cries out to be explored a little further.

More of an issue is that Toby's something of an unpleasant idiot, after almost seducing the Boss's wife Jacqui (Olga Kurylenko) he's happy to let a local gypsy take the blame who is then arrested by the police, and he refuses to take responsibility for his actions in general. Most of the time he acts like a spoilt brat who treats others appallingly, the good Don especially, and though his character is eventually sort of redeemed it's hard to see why Angelica and Jacqui lust after him in the first place. The film's treatment of women is pretty questionable in general, and I can understand why some critics have called it misogynistic though I would't go quite that far myself. Admittedly Toby's not a character we're supposed to love, at least not initially, but actively disliking him was never part of Gilliam's plan and I found myself feeling such a thing at several points. It's not Driver's fault either, his performance is impressive, but he's let down by a patchy and uneven script.

Also disappointing is that during the final forty five minutes the film becomes blander as Toby obsesses over Angelica, the film takes on a melodramatic tone and though the ending almost redeems events it's not enough to save the whole film. Which is frustrating as there is an enormous amount to enjoy in the first half, when Pryce is on screen it zips along at a great pace and his antics often provoke laughter. It's also beautifully shot and looks sumptuous, the ideas Gilliam plays around with about the joys of ignoring reality and living out your dreams are appealing, and all of the actors are on top form. But it's messy overall, worth seeing for sure but it's doubtful that it'll be a film you'll fall in love with, or maybe even like with.

Noodle Lizard

Yeah, it's a complete mess, sadly.  Not without its good points, but it's bottom-tier Gilliam.  I know I shouldn't let its notorious production he'll cloud my judgment of it, but after following the saga since seeing Lost In La Mancha 15 years ago, it's almost impossible not to be very aware that this is the result at long last.  I don't know if it was worth all the trouble, except maybe for Gilliam himself.  Which is fine, but man I wish it had been so much better.

Then again, I don't think I've particularly liked any Gilliam film first time round, so maybe this'll grow on me too.

PlanktonSideburns

If in the course of my job today I let a load of equipment get destroyed in a flood and killed a horse

A) my boss would be fuming
B) everyone would rightly think I'm a bit of a tit


Come on mate, even Quentin Tarrantino can make films sometimes and he seems as thick as seven medium sized planks laminated

zomgmouse

Hard to say how much of this was ever meant to make complete sense, at least more than in a vaguely dreamlike sort of way. But I do think a bit too much falls apart for me to totally like it - even if there's heaps to enjoy.

I also particularly laughed at all the references to his previous failed attempt. And Pryce was a treat.

buntyman

I went to see this at the cinema today and really enjoyed it, much more than I expected given the middling reviews. As has been mentioned, the guy playing quixote is an absolute delight and it's worth watching just for his performance. I thought it was let down a bit by the last half hour which was a bit flabby but otherwise it zipped along nicely and was full of fun and silliness.
Now I need to watch that making of film