If you haven't been on the internet in the last quarter century, there are copious amounts of articles written how Gilliam's accursed Don Quixote is the "greatest film never made." This is indisputably the most hyped film in cinema history. Thirty years of blind adoration and this is what we get: yet another movie about making movies. Because, god knows, that cliche wasn't already run into ground by Stardust Memories, Alex in Wonderland, Day for Night, Contempt, or Mulholland Drive. We get it already. Being an artistic genius is difficult. Gilliam could have done anything, and he settled with the laziest gimmick in the director's handbook.
I never read the book, so other than the windmill stuff, I found the plot muddled and not very compelling. A bunch of stuff randomly happens, and the protagonist bumps into all the crucial characters at the exact right time by the most ridiculous of coincidences. Pretty simple inconveniences or misunderstandings are turned into catastrophes. Also, a woman who is insinuated to be an abused wife trapped in a horrible relationship is turned into a villain in the last ten minutes. I guess we were supposed to hate her for not filing for divorce or for being a gold digger. Some weird character arcs in this film.
The acting is good but I loathe most of these of characters. And, once again, Gilliam celebrates a man who clearly has mental illness as some kind of wacky inspirational hero. Bravo. Tonally the film is all over the place, with prolonged slapstick set against repeated shots of decomposing animals, people murdering policemen, then ending in a corny climax of a sunset and soaring stock music that could have come from a kids movie. This film is a trainwreck.
I never read the book, so other than the windmill stuff, I found the plot muddled and not very compelling. A bunch of stuff randomly happens, and the protagonist bumps into all the crucial characters at the exact right time by the most ridiculous of coincidences. Pretty simple inconveniences or misunderstandings are turned into catastrophes. Also, a woman who is insinuated to be an abused wife trapped in a horrible relationship is turned into a villain in the last ten minutes. I guess we were supposed to hate her for not filing for divorce or for being a gold digger. Some weird character arcs in this film.
The acting is good but I loathe most of these of characters. And, once again, Gilliam celebrates a man who clearly has mental illness as some kind of wacky inspirational hero. Bravo. Tonally the film is all over the place, with prolonged slapstick set against repeated shots of decomposing animals, people murdering policemen, then ending in a corny climax of a sunset and soaring stock music that could have come from a kids movie. This film is a trainwreck.