By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Keith Fulton | Luis Pepe
Country: united_kingdom, united_states
Year: 2003
Running time: 93
IMDB: http://us.imdb.com/Details?0308514
Ivy says: “What a riveting tale of the true delicate state that most films are made in. A local film production company, Central Productions, uses as their cornerstone battle the statistic that most films are never completed. So is how we start the tale of the ill-fated Don Quixote project of Terry Gilliam’s. Is Don Quixote the Scottish play for the silver screen? Possibly…
“Combining Gilliam animation, the limited actual footage from the shoot, backstage footage shot by the directors (they were there to shoot a behind-the-scenes documentary ), LOST IN LA MANCHA makes you truly mourn the loss of what looks to be another Gilliam treasure.
“It did also make me wonder if it was a fundraising piece for Gilliam, the financiers, producers, who knows in order to make back some of the losses from the doomed shoot. That question put a bad taste in my mouth because I really started to question the agenda behind the documentary.
“In the end, I was glad to see this interesting story, but I wasn’t sorry that I missed it in the theaters and would only recommend it to Gilliam fans. Possibly someone who doesn’t know how easy it is for a film to self-destruct might get a lot more out of this film than I did.”
Michael says: “LOST IN LA MANCHA is a horror film masquerading as a documentary. The still entertaining film chronicles the devastating journey of director Terry Gilliam in his attempt to make an epic film about Don Quixote. As days in this problem-plagued production advance, a quote from the film becomes the centerpiece of the story, ‘The most painful thing was seeing reality win over Don Quixote in the end… because it did.’ Reality takes a painful bite out of Gilliam on more than one occasion, and production ceased. A fascinating film that is a must see for any filmmaker, and a strong doc for anyone.” 4 cats