The Man Who Killed Don Quixote - Review

Pretentious young hip director Toby (Adam Driver) takes a break from filming an insurance commercial in Spain to make a brief stop at the small village where he once shot a student film about Don Quixote. His trip down memory lane eventually leads him to reuniting with his former lead actor Javier (Jonathan Pryce), a shoemaker who went full method and is stuck believing he's the real man from La Mancha. Mistaking him for his squire Sancho Panza, the crazed knight sweeps up Toby into a spirited and surreal adventure. THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE has been highly anticipated by all cinephiles since it finally escaped from over two decades of production hell but sadly Terry Gilliam's passion project ends up being pretty moot. The reconfigured story is ultimately just rehashed leftovers of previous Gilliam films, namely THE FISHER KING and BRAZIL. It really tries to grab your full attention with Gilliam's standard artistic flair and attempts at witty vulgar humor. However, it's very hard to shake off the deja vu of seeing a man hanging out with a disturbed individual he helped create, a mounted knight in modern times, the real world and the dreams of an unstable man mixing together, the evil powers that be always winning and a bitter conclusion. The script also falters pretty significantly in the female department, as the two supporting women are both treated as doormats for corrupt European bosses and are routinely physically and verbally abused. They both also don't have much of a real personality, which is a death sentence for Joana Ribeiro's Angelica since we're supposed to care about her plight and want to root for Toby to literally be a white knight. Yes, the audience absolutely wants to cheer on Toby despite the fact that he's a certified asshat and he fell in love with Angelica back when she was 15 years old. Adam Driver really tries to make this picture work and is quite great when his physical comedy is on display. Plus Pryce of course does wonders handling the jovial nature of Don Quixote and the brief somber moments when Javier returns to the surface. Too bad the script can't measure up with their talents nor can Gilliam who clearly struggles at times behind the camera. I didn't totally dislike my time with this film; most of my anger during the film screening went to some annoying jackasses who laughed at every little thing, from practical objects in the background to non-jokes to even the domestic abuse. A rewatch might bump it up a little later down the line but quite frankly the making of THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE will forever have a bigger impact on film history than the film itself.


FINAL REVIEW: 2 / 5