“Lost in La Mancha” Directed by Keith Fulton
and Louis Pepe
Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe’s “Lost in La
Mancha” chronicles director Terry Gilliam’s attempt to
create “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote,” a film
adaptation of Cervantes’s classic novel “Don
Quixote.”
Gilliam’s decadelong aspiration to make his film is
finally put into production only to be plagued from the start with
relentless complications, ranging from an unbelievable apocalyptic
flood to the comically crusty, grumpy, injury-plagued French actor
Jean Rochefort.
A chaotic flux of insurance adjusters, principle investors, and
a host of other supporting components refuse to peacefully coexist
with Gilliam as he travels down an increasingly depressing road
toward abandonment of the film after six days of shooting.
Despite its comical moments and a visually captivating flood
scene, this film is in Discovery Channel style. At times the
narration by Jeff Bridges will lull you toward memories of a Sunday
afternoon TV couch nap. It lacks a pulse.
If you feel you could enjoy the artistic parallel between the
lives of Terry Gilliam and Don Quixote ““ both dreamers whose
dreams are destroyed by the encroachingly pragmatic world around
them ““ this movie is well worth seeing.
Monty Python fans will enjoy scenes of Gilliam sketching out
animations of his frustrations.
“Lost in La Mancha” is a story of a man’s
struggle to transform a personal dream into a tangible reality. It
is revealing, somewhat inspiring, slow, but intellectually
satisfying.
-Sean Halloran
“The Recruit”
Starring Colin Farrell, Al Pacino
Directed by Roger Donaldson
In a refreshing change of pace from the standard predictability
of most action films, “The Recruit” capitalizes on
everything that a fun movie worth seeing should boast: cleverness,
sex, mystery, and of course, stunning actors who hold the
audience’s attention for the entire film.
Set in the CIA’s closely guarded training facility
otherwise known as “The Farm,” the film takes
moviegoers into the top secret world of undercover espionage where
appearances can be deceiving.
The film takes unpredictable turns following the recruitment
process of James Clayton (Colin Farrell), student of CIA instructor
Walter Burke (Al Pacino). It teases the audience to no end as to
who or what is behind the secret plot to steal information from the
CIA headquarters. Added to the talented cast is Bridgette Moynahan
who only enhances the unique flavor of the high energy suspense
thriller.
Going above and beyond any other film that has tried to
realistically recreate CIA headquarters, the producers gained
unprecedented access into the offices at Langley, Virginia so that
they could correctly recreate details of certain sets as closely as
possible, even down to the spacing of the tiles and type of stone
used for graphic inlays.
While the climax of the plot may not have been without one or
two minor holes in logic, for an action film of this complexity and
high level of suspense, it’s easy to forgive and forget. The
rest of the storyline made up for anything else the movie
lacked.
-CJ Yu