shiftyeyeddog I love Gilliam films. I love Depp. I love Don Quixote. All this adds up to great frustration in seeing their Quixote film crash and burn. Will we ever see it on screen? Who knows. Maybe someday. But this documentary gives a great glimpse into what might have been, and makes a great counter-story to the in-depth Episode I and X-Men DVD making-of documentaries that showed how a successful film comes together. This one shows the darker side of film-making and what can happen when all goes awry. Very interesting, if completely frustrating to be teased with such a perfect group on a project that may never be completed.

postmanwhoalwaysringstwice Maverick filmmaker Terry Gilliam may have been the mastermind behind such great works as "Brazil" and "The Fisher King", but he created his largest, most brilliantly conceived undertaking to date with 2001's "The Man who Killed Don Quixote". Oh, wait. You've never heard of it? The stellar documentary "Lost in La Mancha" will present precisely why Gilliam's big budget indie flick went from one cataclysm to another without missing a beat. Like Orson Welles before him, Quixotic director Gilliam struggled against immovable and unpreventable odds to get his vision of Quixote to the screen, even after having put more than a full decade's work into it. The film that began as an on-set making of featurette soon blossoms into a movie-making parody no one bothered to pen. It could be said that independent film-making constitutes the bulk of the actual output of the 'film industry', and this documentary rings quite true of those struggling in the trenches of it. It's a wonderful crash course in film-making for those prepared to see the darker, sadder side of it.

kkarinski I really felt like Terry Gilliam was just trying to somehow salvage something from his failure to complete "Man of La Mancha". I have no problem with that if the story is a good one and it is told well. This is not. While his travails were many and unusual, to be sure, he used none of his skills to present them in an entertaining way. They were simply presented to us as information, almost. This is unacceptable from someone of his experience and expertise. We can expect more from him. I believe this "failed movie" idea is presented better in "Project: Tomorrow Men" by Clockwork Pictures. While this movie is decidedly amateurish, it is understandably so, since it is the story of a fledgling companies attempts to produce their first feature film. Nevertheless, they do a better job than the years-of-experience Gilliam does with his.

MovieAddict2016 Terry Gilliam's had a controversial career. His "Brazil" in 1985 upset Universal because it had a "sad" ending, so they cut it apart and replaced the finale with a "happier" version. Gilliam hated their hack job of his work, and illegally screened his original version for a critics' circle -- they voted it one of the best films of the year. Soon Gilliam got his way and the film was released as he had originally intended, and it's now considered a classic.A few years later he released "The Adventures of Baron Manchusen," a fantasy flop that went some $20 million over budget and collapsed at the box office. He quit directing for a while and, when he returned, started work on "Twelve Monkeys." It wasn't the best of shoots and his perfectionism resulted in eccentric, intolerable shooting schedules.In 1998 "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" was released and the MPAA hated it, threatening to give it an X rating for its drug content. Released alongside "Godzilla," it flopped, but to this day remains a cult classic.So it's reasonable to say Gilliam is quite an eccentric personality and has had a tumultuous career."The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" was going to be his new film until it crashed. The production was halted because Gilliam couldn't find an actor to play Quixote, flash floods destroyed equipment and one of his shooting locations was in fact a NATO airfield which created quite a problem for the filmmakers.Gilliam's film probably would have been a great twist on the classic tale and I'm sure his eccentric vision would have suited it well. He also had a cameo by Johnny Depp in the movie and it's quite funny as shown in this documentary detailing the events of the production.Gilliam recently said he's going to start production on this again and finish it up. I hope so, it really does look like a promising film.In terms of this documentary itself, it's very insightful and a must-see for any Gilliam fan or aspiring director -- it's entertaining and important, and a great guide on how NOT to make a movie.