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List Price: $9.98 | | Label: Winstar
Salesrank: 116006
Released: February 27, 2001 |
| Our Price: $2.99 |
| Used Price: $2.83 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
At the close of this hour-long 1997 documentary from Robert J. Emery's American Film Institute-sponsored series of filmmaker profiles, Terry Gilliam is asked how he would like to be remembered. Gilliam replies that he hopes his films will continue to "surprise people, and allow them to view the world through different eyes." That's a worthy goal for any artist, and Gilliam has succeeded in reaching that goal many times over.
If you can forgive the pedestrian narration (which is salvaged only by quotes from Gilliam's irreverent, self-penned "official biography"), the documentary's highlights are the interview clips with Gilliam, whose observations about his life and work are far more interesting than Emery's cursory tour through Gilliam's career. Clips from Gilliam's films are well chosen, but the survey never probes beyond a superficial assessment; Gilliam provides the substance, and the stellar interviewees (including Shelley Duvall, Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt, Amanda Plummer, David Warner, and Mercedes Ruehl) offer additional depth with their insightful gratitude. This is must-see viewing for any Gilliam fan, but it's also a bit of a tease, leaving one wanting more. It's perhaps fortunate that the film was made before Gilliam's flawed, impersonal production of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but members of Monty Python are conspicuous in their absence, if only because the focus remains on Gilliam's solo career. On the other hand, it's nice to see time given to "The Crimson Permanent Assurance," the fantastic short film in Python's The Meaning of Life that liberated Gilliam from "the nightmare of animation" (his words), and set him on course for a glorious and visionary career. --Jeff Shannon
The Directors - Terry Gilliam Reviews:
Mediocre 
2009-01-13 - This film is factually shaky (it says that Gilliam worked for Mad Magazine) and says nothing but in hollywood industry praise talk ("great director," "visionary director," yadda yadda). A few of the interviews are slightly interesting, but if you're at all familiar with Gilliam, this is entirely unnecessary.
Unnesasary continued... 
2000-07-21 - This sound similar to the more focused documentary included with the Criterion edition of Brazil. And anyone interested in his works would benefit greatly from that as well. (More so mayhap since it includes an actual film)
perhaps unnecessary ?
2000-05-31 - I suspect that if one appreciates Gilliam's work enough to want this disc, (like me) they probably already own all his movies anyway. And since most of his DVDs have an abundance of info included, you'll probably discover (like me) that you knew all this stuff already. Like buying a "best of" album, when you already own a group's entire collection. But if nothing else, it sure looks cool to have this DVD in my rack - it sort of "announces" the collection of Gilliam films stored beneath it.
