Director Terry Gilliam Reemerges After Dry Spell
This simultaneously dumb and brilliant Monty Python segue and eventual tagline for the group can also be used to accurately describe the work of one of its lesser-known members.�¯�¿�½After leaving the U.S. in the 60s to make his mark as an animator in England, Terry Gilliam tried his hand at directing. He�¯�¿�½has been�¯�¿�½in and out of favor�¯�¿�½with Hollywood and described by producers as both difficult and brilliant.�¯�¿�½
He has�¯�¿�½also�¯�¿�½weathered�¯�¿�½a professional disaster in recent years, but this�¯�¿�½wonderfully quirky, expatriot-American refuses to give up. Two of his films�¯�¿�½have been released in recent months and�¯�¿�½Gilliam appears to be back in the game. The first release, The Brothers Grimm,�¯�¿�½had a�¯�¿�½respectable box-office showing, but�¯�¿�½his second, Tideland, is�¯�¿�½generating controversy�¯�¿�½and�¯�¿�½how warm his welcome will be remains to be seen.�¯�¿�½�¯�¿�½
The best way I can think of to describe where Terry Gilliam’s decidedly off-center sensibility lies is to say that you can’t get there from here… Gilliam’s wild and fertile imagination goes where it will, which is to say places whereÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ most of the rest of ours won’t!Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½His uniqueÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½vision has drawn theÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½acting servicesÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½of Robert DeNiro, Sean Connery, Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt and Uma Thurman, just to name a few.
For years though, Gilliam toiled in virtual anonymity during his stint as an animator on the BBC’s Monty PythonÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½s Flying Circus. For the show’s five-year run, GilliamÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½contributed his always-unpredictable, slightly seedy animation segments. He rarely appeared onscreen, however, having to compete with uber-madcaps Eric Idle, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Graham Chapman.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½
To try andÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½hold his own withÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½the likes of Idle and his inherently grin-inducing face and mischief making; Cleese’s “silly walks,” deadpan deliveriesÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½and fits of mind-numbing rage; Jones’s bare-assed organ playing or characters dressed in drag (complete with a grating, high-pitched squawk); the utter impishness of Palin or somehow-dignified absurdity of Chapman was too tall an order for a mere genius like Gilliam. Nevermind the fact that the accent would have been totally out of place. Python humor loses something in translation from English into English, you might say.
With the dissolution of the tv show in 1974, Gilliam eventually wound up directing. His first film as sole director, Jabberwocky, is by no meansÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½classic cinema but gives us a taste of Gilliam’s nascent filmmaking sensibility.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½That is, a penchantÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½for things offbeat, crude and grimy – an element present in Monty Python and the Holy Grail (which he co-directed) as well as in his animation. He seems to revel in giving hisÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½works a patina ofÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½physical filth; a Dark Ages grunginess whichÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½pervades his entire catalogue to varying degrees.
His next film was the box-office smash, Time Bandits. Wherein, a boy is taken along for time travels by some of God’s scheming assistants, a group of little people bent on accruing material wealth by hook or crook.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½Possessing a blueprint which identifies portals toÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½facilitate their comings and goings across time and space, they bungle their way through history, ending in final showdown in the Underworld.
Gilliam’sÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½next solo directorial effort was Brazil, considered by many to be the quintessential Terry Gilliam film. This satirical take on a bureaucratic dystopia is equal parts cautionary tale and romantic encouragement to follow one’s heart. It is set in a soulless State ruled by absolute protocol andÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½describes theÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½terrifying effects thereof. The hero, howeverÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½boldly steps out ofÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½his complacent existenceÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½and follows hisÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½fanciful dreams to their ambiguous conclusion. ThisÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ending of this film caused some controversyÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½and was nearly never released in the U.S. as a result. In response, Gilliam took out a full-page ad in Variety magazine pleading with theÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½studio to release his film!
Gilliam followed Brazil with The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, a whimsical adaptation of a Bavarian legend. Although met with mixed enthusiasm, it is a wonderful piece of entertainment that posits (in a roundabout, fantastical-sort-of-way) that adventure itself may be the Fountain of Youth we all seek. Gilliam casted his friend and Python alum Eric Idle in a role in this film.
The Fisher King, wit Williams and Jeff Bridges,�¯�¿�½deftly points up themes of personal responsibility and forgiveness while the film 12 Monkeys sees Gilliam in top stylistic form in a sci-fi adventure that is at once tongue-in-cheek and touching in its humanity and the things we take for granted. Gilliam again uses time travel as a plot device.�¯�¿�½�¯�¿�½
This time, however,Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½it culminates inÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½an intriguing and touching scene at the film’s end which contains plot reveals and identifies several mystery characters shown intermittantlyÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½in a series of clever edits throughout. Brad Pitt received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in this film.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, based on the life of “gonzo” journalist, Hunter F. Thompson, chronicles Thompson’s drug-inspired lifestyle during an assignment in Las Vegas. Gilliam successfully renders the psychedelic experience onscreen but ultimately comes up short for critics and audiences. The film is more of a visual and comic romp compared to the heretofore very human and inspired Gilliam themes and storylines.
His next project, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, seemed doomed from the outset. Difficulty procuring a sufficient budget, actor injury and torrential rains and flooding caused this film to be abandoned as soon as filming started. Being one of Gilliam’s all-time favorite stories, however, he continues to try and secure the rights to it and will hopefully realize it onscreen someday.
Gilliam’s downward, creative spiral continued for nearly five years but he has finally pulled out of theÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½nosedive with the release of The Brother’s Grimm – an enjoyable, ficticious tale based upon the two actual, historical siblings. Here, however they are cast as con artists facing the fearsome characters from their stories and fables.
Or perhaps (as the story may be interpreted to suggest) theirÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½writings areÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½a direct result of these supernatural experiences – wink, wink, nudge, nudgeâÂ?¦ With The Brothers Grimm, Gilliam begins to make his comeback with yet another storyÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½with elements of fantasy which he holds so dear.
So, it’s no surprise that nearly all his films to date deal with fantasy in some way – in the senseÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½that both the impossible and/or the magical underlie all else. Alongside the sweaty, mud-smeared veneer of the physical reality he portrays, there exists the pristine, white-satin, human hopes and aspirations within theÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½minds and hearts ofÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½hisÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½characters. Taken altogether, Gillima’s vision is a strangely optimistic rendering of life on a planet which consists of roughly 1/3 dirt, inhabited by creatures who live to dream.
His next film, Tideland, based on the novel by Mitch Cullin, premiered in September in Toronto and more recently won Spain’s San Sebastian Film Festival Fipresci Prize. Hopefully, it will be released in the States by the end of this year but tremendous controversy surrounds the film already, and the hackles it has raised may prevent its release here altogether. But in the land of free speech and all the rest of that nifty stuff, one must believe it’s only a temporary setback. “The story of my life,” Gilliam might say.
Judging by the current ruckus of Tideland and the typical Gilliam reaction to it all – sort of a chuckling “Gimme a break” attitude – I’d say Terry Gilliam is certainly back, and with a vengeance! With Tideland, Gilliam puts a more serious spin on his group’s absurdist segue as, sans smirk this time,Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½he announces, “And now for something completely differentâÂ?¦”
