Man Who Killed Don Quixote

You know that feeling when you submit a school homework assignment, you work day and night, coffee after coffee and submit it. You wait a few days or weeks, knowing that you have tried as hard as you can, this is the best that you can do - only to have a mark of 60%. That is essentially what The Man Who Killed Don Quixote felt like as I watched it. This film has been in development hell for the past 25-odd years and it clearly shows. The story is extremely unfocused, the characters are ridiculously paper thin and many sequences are extremely jarring thanks to the pacing and the editing. There were actual moments throughout the film that I wanted to face palm myself. Some are so perfectly ridiculous and stupid, that a face palm felt like the only natural response you could make. That isn't to say I didn't enjoy it, but I didn't enjoy it as much as my expectations were brought up to believe. It has some really funny moments and parts that I could very much appreciate in terms of filmmaking. My enjoyment was also associated with the fact that some of my favourite actors are in this film such as Jonathan Pryce, Adam Driver and Stellan Skarsgard. A majority of the screen-time was naturally going to be focused on Adam Driver and Jonathan Pryce's relationship, but as interesting as it can be, it isn't enough to carry a film like this.

But there is one thing that anyone can appreciate with this film. I have been waiting for about 10 years for this film to be released, since I discovered it concept and the hell it went through. With that knowledge in mind, you can only imagine how accomplished Terry Gilliam must feel about this film. With that you can feel as accomplished about this as much as Terry, because it feels like your patience has paid off. Even though he only got 60% for his homework, he can still feel accomplished about getting it finished, despite it being rough around the edges.

It gets a 6/10