_WSJ_ report on Terry Gilliam's new film

[L-H@cup.portal.com]

Hi Everyone, 

Yesterday's Wall Street Journal had a nice report on Gilliam's new film,
"The Fisher King."  Kate appreciates Gilliam's work a great deal; you
know, this so-called Kate reference unwritten rule. :-) My sabbatical 
is just beginning, and I'm a little giddy.  Deep breath.. Thanks Jorn 
for the inspiration... 

By Julie Salamon: 

Film: Medieval Fantasy in Modern Manhattan

  Partway through "The Fisher King," Terry Gilliam's engaging new film, 
the rush-hour crush in Manhattan's Grand Central Terminal is transformed
into a lyrically romantic set piece.  The crush of commuters, tourists and
homeless people suddenly breaks into a dizzying waltz, under the glow of 
the elegant chandeliers.  Instead of pressing ahead to the individual 
concerns propelling them foreward, these people are all swept up into the 
fantasy that is implied in the grandeur of the architecture.  Instead of 
avoiding one another-afraid of facing yet another beggar-the crowd 
gracefully moves together in a glittering dream. 

  The moment passes and they are no longer revelers but commuters, tour-
ists, and homeless people once again.  It's a great scene-beautiful and a
little nutty, the kind of thing one would expect from Mr. Gilliam, a 
director who specializes in the phantasmagorical ("Time Bandits,"
"Brazil," "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen"). 

Elsewhere in "The Fisher King" Mr. Gilliam has restrained himself, perhaps
reacting to the criticism that his films rely too much on the spectac-
ular, too little on "real" character and emotion.  So he devotes much more
screen time to his characters and less to the brilliant set pieces he 
stages so well. 

 The result is a movie whose rhythms are uneven:  You feel as if Mr. 
Gilliam is trying to conform to somebody else's conventions (this is the 
first time he's directed a movie that wasn't his idea from the start). 
Sometimes the picture strains to make its points about humanity and true
happiness, nd slides into sentimentality.  But Mr. Gilliam's imagination,
with its mix of mischief and melancholy, gives the movie a satisfying 
spark, enough to overcome its pat message of upbeat poignancy. 


  It's easy to see what drew the director to Richard LaGravenese's dark
fable about a powerful, foul talk-radio host named Jack Lucas who drops 
out of the business and becomes a drunk worker in a video store after a
listener he'd egged on goes out and commits mass murder.  Jack, who has
remained an arrogant cynic even after he's gone off the air, stumbles 
into a homeless man who holds the secret to his redemption. The homeless
man, who calls himself Parry, was a college professor driven mad by a 
horrible tragedy.  Parry is obsessed by the the legend of the Fisher 
King, who forgot the meaning of life until the court jester reminded him
of it (love, not power). 

 Mr. Gilliam plays out the theme with a darkly romantic vision.  He's 
constructed the story visually as a medieval fairy tale set in a contem-
porary Manhattan that's part Gothic, part Gershwin.  When Parry and his 
homeless friends rescue Jack from a couple of thugs, they top their act by
singing "I Love New York In Spring." In fact, more than anything, the 
movie reminds me of a great Broadway musical, without the music (except 
for a second grand set piece, in which Michael Jeter, a skinny man, pays
homage to Ethel Merman with delirious perfection). 

  Jeff Bridges has the guts not to make Jack the ex-deejay endearing.  The
actor has played variations on this kind of man before, and he's perfected
that brand of hip discouragement.  There isn't much to like about him. 
He's a whiner when he's up and he's a whiner when he's down. 

  Robin Williams gets to pull out all his tricks to play Parry.  He can 
be the wild man who talks to invisible people, the sentimentalist and 
the moralist.  There's a deep, sad strain there that's entirely believ-
able; he's one of few actors today who could tell the legend of the 
Fisher King (while lying naked on his back in Central Park at night) and
get away with it. 

  This eccentric love story includes women, and Mr. Gilliam has chosen
two of the better eccentric actresses.  Mercedes Rhehl plays Anne, the 
video-store owner who took Jack in after he gave up his talk show.  With
Ms. Ruehl around, fireworks are beside the point.  She's a walking visual
and emotional display.  You want to hug her one minute and put her behind
glass the next.  Yet she's the girl next door compared with Lydia, the 
klutzy girl of Parry's dreams, played sweetly bizarre by Amanda Plummer.

Larry (L-H@cup.portal.COM)