Review of Lost in La Mancha (2002) by Jason D — 23 Feb 2008
Not a movie for everyone, but fans of Terry Gilliam or Johnny Depp, or folks who are interested in the film-making process will find a lot to like here. This documentary is essentially a record of Terry Gilliam's aborted production of the movie 'The Man who Killed Don Quixote', which was supposed to star Jean Rochefort and Johnny Depp.
It's essentially a fly-on-the-wall diary recording of the preceedings, beginning with preproduction where the viewer meets Terry's "team" and sees the different elements going into the film, getting a chance to soak in everyone's enthusiasm for the project.
Once the actual filming starts, however, things begin to go wrong. Really, really wrong, and soon filming is halted. The end of the movie deals with the legal wrangling and reasons why the project had to be abandoned, leaving the script in limbo, Johnny Depp moving on to other projects, and Terry Gilliam depressed and movie-less (until he did that BROTHERS GRIMM film).
An interesting primer on how good movies sometimes don't get made, and how things can go horribly wrong at any job, even if that job is making 40-million dollar films.
This review of Lost in La Mancha (2002) was written by Jason D on 23 Feb 2008.
Lost in La Mancha has generally received positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
