Lost in La Mancha
The nightmare. I originally went to see this at the local indie cinema for the sole reason that Vanessa Paradis was in it. I thought maybe it’d be an interesting movie anyway, but really, that’s why I went along, so I was disappointed to find she appears for about 2 seconds 
I came out kind of touched by the story of perhaps the most disastrous movie production of all time, but also slightly (maybe even mostly) bemused and surprised by some moments in the film where, really, it’s like director Terry Gilliam brought it all on himself. There are ways around a lot of the problems he encountered – for example, when he complains about sound on a set, I found myself wanting to scream at the screen, “the sound and the image are separate you dummy!” He just wants it to be a little too perfect sometimes. There’s something to be said for that … but y’know, when things start to go wrong as they do here, I think you’ve just got to compromise or die on your ass.
I didn’t think I’d ever really bother watching the movie again, although I bought the DVD for the same reason as above, wanting to keep my Vanessa collection complete. But watching it this time round it all seemed to hit me a little more than before. From that first shot of Gilliam, giddy, looking at a crazy-looking scene through his camcorder with a smile on his face, Johnny Depp gazing up at a military jet flying over and miming “Boom!” to the camera, that wonderful moment when someone asks the assistant director, “What are we doing here then?” following the flat-out statement that Jean Rochefort won’t be getting on a horse again, and the AD makes a masturbation gesture … and that final crushing defeat on Gilliam’s face when he’s told it just ain’t gonna happen. It’s one hell of a journey, made all the more painful by the fact that from the pieces we see, it looks like it could’ve been a great movie. I really hope they finally pull it together soon, though I don’t know who could replace Rochefort.