Gilliam-ing

"When are you going to release my film, 'Brazil'?"
It's been Terry Gilliam week at our house. First we got the Criterion Collection edition of Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, featuring commentary by Terry Gilliam, Johnny Depp, Benicio del Toro, and Dr. Thompson himself (he does not speak extemporaneously but is interviewed/goaded by an officious-sounding Criterion executive). Then we impetuously purchased Lost in La Mancha, the documentary of Terry Gilliam's failed attempt to film Don Quixote. Orson Welles failed too, so Gilliam is in good company. My conclusions from watching these are (1) Terry Gilliam has a demonic little laugh that I must imitate, often. (2) I am glad that "The Man Who Killed Quixote" (or whatever it was called) never made it through production because it looks...annoying. I suspect I enjoyed the story behind the movie's failure much more than I would have liked the movie itself. There are only so many slo-mo fat giants and dirty bald men in tatters and shackles and elderly protagonists with funny noses that I will accept. Time for pistachio ice cream.