Product: The Fisher King [VHS] (1991)
Rating: 4.0
Updating the Myth on old Manhattan
Terry Gilliam has always explored characters whose minds live in the areas between fantasy and reality, and here, as in his great "Brazil," it works pretty well. "The Fisher King" is a somewhat overlooked film of the early 90s, a moving tale which genuinely believes in its characters' redemption. We're not sure, at first, we even like the protagonist Jack Lucas enough to want him to find redemption (excellent Jeff Bridges, befuddled & tortured by his self-absorption) after his callous words send him from the top (as a popular shock-jock) straight to the bottom. But as the film goes on, we're shown how meaning and purpose can be created through imagination, and our friends' belief in redemption can inspire it in ourselves. At times it seemed Gilliam might overdo the weird camera lens/angles and indulge the grotesque, but its leavened out by the excellent acting (apart from some over-the-top Robin Williams antics) and a sure direction which keeps in control the sentimental & melodramatic aspects of the story.