Terry Gilliam’s “The Man who Killed Don Quixote”

Terry Gilliam’s “The Man who Killed Don Quixote”, the closing film at Camnnes this year, is “spectacular” with a colorful at times overstuffed mise en scène but the roles for women are still medieval - actress-model-high class escort (Olga Kurylenko and Joana Ribeiro). Although Cervantes wrote the novel, Gilliam a former Palme d’Or nominee, did the time jumping modern spin.

Kurylenko as Jacqui is the mistress of The Boss (Stellan Skarsgård). Newcomer Joana Ribeiro (Angelica) plays a former actress for Toby's (Adam Driver') film on Don Quixote in his youth. She later becomes the mistress of the corrupt Russian crime lord Alexei Miiskin (Jordi Mollà). A gender bending plot twist can be found in the ending.

Adam Driver's performance is positive as a modern Don Quixote although at times a weak script accounts for some holdups. Johnny Depp is not missed at all! Jonathan Pryce does his best standing in for the late Jean Rochefort. For a 20 year wait, Gilliam manages fairly well to pull it off. At the press conference he jokingly remarked that his next project is death. Throughout the Red Carpet walk up the steps, he could be seen dancing as an elf-like figure, colorfully dressed with a long tail in his haircut.