Terry Gilliam was the least visible member of the
comedy troupe Monty Python’s Flying Circus, but he has made the
greatest impression in the cinema. In fact, he has reached such a high
level as a director that his films can’t be judged by normal
standards. His current release, The Brothers
Grimm, although not a bad film, suffers in
comparison with his other films. His transition to world-class filmmaker
may rank as the greatest cinematic surprise of the 1980s.
Gilliam, the only American Python, was known previously
as the creator of the bizarre animations for the group’s television
series. When the Pythons graduated to the big screen with Monty Python and the Holy Grail
(1975), Gilliam was credited as co-director with Terry Jones, but the
entire group probably had creative input. Grail is their best and funniest film. Gilliam’s solo
directorial debut, Jabberwocky (1977), seemed like a lower-grade extension of Holy Grail but not nearly as
funny. Time Bandits
(1981) was a major leap forward for Gilliam. A young boy discovers a time
hole in his closet, and he travels back and forth through time with a group
of dwarves. Gilliam made the film in the form of a children’s
fantasy, but it really isn’t a kiddie flick. The real surprise is
what followed. No one could have predicted Gilliam was capable of Brazil (1985), an absolutely
astounding achievement. I covered Brazil in a previous column, so consider this a reminder.
All great artists deserve one grand folly, and
Gilliam’s is The Adventures of Baron
Munchausen (1989), a comedy/fantasy starring
John Neville as the legendary teller of tall tales. Don’t let its
box-office failure fool you. Munchausen is an extravagant vision, and the humor should be
appreciated by Python fans.
The Fisher King (1991)
is Gilliam’s first cinematic journey through the present world, but
it never betrays his skewed vision. Jeff Bridges and Robin Williams are two
emotionally disturbed men who bond, but don’t expect a maudlin
heartwarming story from Gilliam. He followed this with two more brilliant
films, Twelve Monkeys (1995) and Fear and Loathing in Las
Vegas (1998).
More insight into what makes Gilliam tick can be found
in Lost in La Mancha
(2002), an excellent documentary that charts the demise of his film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.
Gilliam has already completed his next film, Tideland, but no American release date is set.
DVDs scheduled for release Tuesday (Sept. 13): Fever Pitch, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Winter Solstice, and Childstar.
This article appears in Sep 8-14, 2005.
