Lost in La Mancha (2002)

just watch it!

Dreadfully Boring

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Even in its length, I wanted to see more. Yes, Gilliam has the "Cimino Curse," but it is unwarranted. This documentary shows his "madness," but it is no more than that of other directing legends (Kubrick comes to mind). What happens to Gilliam is NOT his fault. If not, very little is. As the filmmakers keep repeating, "Munchausen, Munchausen, Munchausen." This documentary shows its audience all of the problems with making movies. It isn't as easy as many think. Gilliam and others do as much as they can to get the movie made, but flight training overhead, storms, and medical problems are always sprouting. I remember the good days of making student movies. For me, it was just terrible. Everything had to fit into a perfect line: timetables, money, actors, crew, sets. Hollywood just throws everything to some talentless hack, but those directors who have talent are constantly fighting any and all problems that arise. Does that make them eccentric? No. It makes them hard workers with a true love for the art of cinema. That being said, this documentary shows the problems with film making. Extremely insightful and well done. To boot, the narration is given to Bridges.8 of 10, mostly for it feeling too brief! 9 of 10 for the DVD with the Salman Rushdie interview, which is MUST SEE! ----- E.

This could well be the first "making of" documentary of an unreleased film: after three false starts, there were only six shooting days on the ill-fated production of that which would have been THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE. Cervantes' epic novel is right up Terry Gilliam's alley as his own continuing obsession with this particular project is nothing if not Quixotic. For what it's worth, the choice of actors (Jean Rochefort and Johnny Depp) is inspired and the snippets of the shot footage shown in the documentary is promising – although I'm not so sure about Gilliam's idea to make Depp a 21st Century Sancho Panza. Well, everything that can go wrong for a film-maker seems to do so to Gilliam and on camera to boot (unacceptable contracts, constant delays due to the unavailability of actors, sudden and disastrous weather changes, unsatisfactory props, financial backers dropping out, etc); one can literally view the maverick director's enthusiasm at the start being drained away as the film progresses.The 'Curse of Quixote' theory is perhaps a valid one: after all, no less a film-maker than Orson Welles tried to mount his own production in the late 1950s and kept vainly working at it practically until his death; it remains unfinished to this day and is only available on French and Spanish DVD in a version compiled by none other than Jess Franco! However, one must recall that another major film artist, G.W. Pabst, made three(!) film versions of the story simultaneously in the early 1930s (two of which, in French and English, are also available on R1 DVD), even if they are not highly-regarded among his films. In any case, the most satisfying version out there is the 1957 Russian one (which I watched many years ago on Italian TV) and, of course, even a journeyman director like Arthur Hiller managed to successfully transfer the musical version of Quixote, MAN OF LA MANCHA (1972), from Broadway onto celluloid.In conclusion, LOST IN LA MANCHA is both a candid look at Gilliam's modus operandi and a real eye-opener to budding film-makers on the perils of being an artist in a commercial industry. Having said that, one can only admire Gilliam's undaunted resolve because, despite the claims of reckless extravagance leveled against him on THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN (1989) and his catastrophic Quixote enterprise, he eventually bounced back in fine form with the equally elaborate THE BROTHERS GRIMM (2005). On a more personal note, I was surprised and amused to see Ray Cooper featured in the documentary and described as a close personal friend of Gilliam's, since I had seen Mr. Cooper flamboyantly drumming away at Jim Capaldi's tribute concert in London last January!

A brilliant documentary about what indeed can go wrong on a film and how fortunate we are too see many great films come to life. Making a film is like re-creating life, and this film show us how difficult it can indeed be. If ever, it's here where Murphy's law applies deeply.After reading the comments here I have little to add - All of them say what I want to say. I would have liked to see this film come out though! Since I am a great fan of Terry and all his films.I think there should be made a documentary on Gilliam, it's definitely something that I would like to see. His imagination and his self-destructiveness are what make him an excellent filmmaker.

Being a fan of anything Don Quixote related I was thrilled to hear that Terry Gilliam was making a movie, especially when I found out that Johnny Depp was attached. I was somewhat puzzled when time went on and I heard nothing about the film. I don't even remember how I found out about the documentary but, though saddened that apparently the movie had fallen though, I was delighted to be able to have an opportunity to experience some movie making magic, Gilliam style. I must say that upon watching the documentary I became saddened by the thought that this apparently delightful and amazing film would never be finished. Depp seems to be his same fabulous self and Rochefort as Quixote would have been delightful. The bits that we actually get to see of the movie are fun to watch. It is terrible that anyone would be plagued by such horrendous bad luck at the crew of this movie was. For anyone who is a fan of Gilliam's work and is in anyway interested in the behind the scenes parts of the film industry, this is a very enlightening little film. It was interesting, even for someone not a part of the industry, to see the process and work involved. My wish for Gilliam is that he will some day be able to make his spectacular movie. If I had the money I would gladly finance the effort myself. Huzzah, Terry! Keep up the good work, we wish you well.