Monday, September 05, 2005

Gilliam's Grimm Reality

Terry Gilliam has earned a place in a pantheon of the greatest directors of the past 2 decades. If you don't know who Gilliam is, think Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, 12 Monkeys, as well as a major driving force in Monty Python.

The man delves into projects and puts his immense creative juice into every visual moment of every film he makes but it doesn't seem to be enough of recent. His previous project, one of his many dream projects, was the story of Don Quixote. The chaos that occurred in trying to make this film was documented in the brilliant documentary Lost in La Mancha.

Rumblings of run-ins with the Weinstein Bothers over decisions involving major parts of The Brothers Grimm. Whatever it is, something was missing in this film. Gilliam's genius was not enough to bring this film to the Echelon of quality films. Matt Damon and Heath Ledger turn in mediocre performances. Ledger does his best Johnny Depp shaky crazy man imitation but its too no avail. The story is not bad. The main female role is an attempt at a strong female character that fails due a lack of acting skill on the young woman's part.

Gilliam can be blamed for trying a little too much visual wizardry. He attempts to fill every moment with eye candy. It seems to making up for a lacking of "it." The Brothers Grimm is missing it. Gilliam is at his best when he has all the tools just like any director. After years of trying to get other dream projects fulfilled, this is what we sadly end up paying for. The true Hollywood joke is that great films aren't coming out because the greatest directors need the full control to toy with. They need money and little else, but this isn't how the major studios like it anymore. It has bit them in the ass too often when they give it to the wrong people.

Imagine that Gilliam's next film was supposed to be a film starring Johnny Depp and Robin Williams. It's on hold because even though Gilliam has found a large percentage of the budget in Europe, where a man of his talent and ilk are fully appreciated. Here in America, they can't scrounged up the rest of the budget between $10 and $20 million dollars. It's a money decision. Sometimes, people need to be whipped into shape. With ticket sales way down across the board at the theatres whether its DVD's or their own undoing by releasing the films onto DVD about 10 days after they are in theatres, these studios will learn they have to take a little more chances.

Cut down on the useless attempts to cash in Lindsey Lohan Herbie remakes, shitty horror films with the same fucking previews, and bad sequels to those horror films. The phrase is "lightning in a bottle" for a reason. Give the true artists in film a few chances. I know a hundred people that would line up for the next Gilliam movie even though Grimm was wrought with problems yet I don't know one person who saw The Honeymooners travesty starring Cedric The Entertainer. Message to the studios: Nurture the skilled people, and the viewers will rebuild their relationships with you. So even with Brothers Grimm as a critical failure, it's making a bit of money.

Gilliam will be back. He's just waiting for someone to believe in him again. Until them, I'm off to watch 12 Monkeys again.