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Lost in La Mancha (2002)

tomatometer

94

Average Rating: 7.5/10
Reviews Counted: 97
Fresh: 91 | Rotten: 6

A remarkable behind-the-scenes look at a movie that wasn't, Lost in La Mancha is an incisive, entertaining document of the difficulties inherent in the moviemaking process.

88

Average Rating: 7.4/10
Critic Reviews: 25
Fresh: 22 | Rotten: 3

A remarkable behind-the-scenes look at a movie that wasn't, Lost in La Mancha is an incisive, entertaining document of the difficulties inherent in the moviemaking process.

audience

72

liked it
Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 14,895

My Rating

Movie Info

For years, one of filmmaker Terry Gilliam's great dreams was to make a screen adaptation of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra's classic tale Don Quixote, and in 2000 it looked as if his dream was to become a reality. In collaboration with Tony Grisoni, Gilliam had written a script called The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, in which a 20th century advertising man accidentally travels back in time and is mistaken by Don Quixote for his faithful companion, Sancho Panza. After ten years of shopping the

Jun 24, 2003

$0.4M

IFC Films

All Critics (109) | Top Critics (27) | Fresh (91) | Rotten (6) | DVD (16)

Wondrous document of a film gone wrong and an artist who inspires fans, cast and crew, even as he terrifies financiers, insurers and anyone more firmly footed in filmmaking reality.

May 23, 2003 Comment
Orlando Sentinel
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A fascinating study in the cinematic arts, as we watch a talented director and a committed crew and cast thwarted by nature, human failings and just plain bad luck.

May 1, 2003 Comment
Arizona Republic
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Gilliam himself is a joy to behold. His wit stays sharp even as his fortunes dull, and the conditions that conspire against him only prove the mettle in our man of La Mancha.

March 21, 2003 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | Comment
Globe and Mail
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Should be required viewing for all film-school students, aspiring filmmakers and studio suits.

March 6, 2003 Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | Comment
Dallas Morning News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Bitterly funny and oddly poignant.

February 27, 2003 Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | Comment
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Top Critic IconTop Critic

One hopes that some day Gilliam gets to realize his dream, but in the meantime, in Lost In La Mancha, the shards of that dream offer tantalizing -- and tear-inducing -- glimpses of what might have been.

February 24, 2003 Comment
Philadelphia Inquirer
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's worth watching to catch glimpses of the Gilliam works, and to be strangely reassured that disasters and misfortune happen even to the best artists.

January 15, 2005 Comment
Looking Closer

entertaining without always being compelling

September 30, 2004 Comment

I'd pay to watch Terry Gilliam take out his trash, but there's nothing in Lost in La Mancha much more exciting than that.

July 7, 2004 Comment

A fascinating documentary for film fans. Those who are not real film fans or film students probably won't find it as interesting.

January 18, 2004 Full Review Source: Laramie Movie Scope | Comment
Laramie Movie Scope

Seeing Gilliam's vision falter is simply painful and joyless.

October 8, 2003 Full Review Source: About.com | Comment
About.com

Viewers always seem to have a strange curiosity about disasters.

June 27, 2003 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | Comment
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

This is a lively film, as optimistic in tone as Don Quixote is in character. And Terry Gilliam is a bright, expansive and enthusiastic filmmaker, a likeable, charismatic guy who jokes about having a budget of US$31.5 million being "half the money we need"

June 25, 2003 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | Comment
Urban Cinefile

The only person who has jousted at more windmills than Don Quixote seems to be Terry Gilliam.

June 2, 2003 Full Review | Comment
Quad City Times (Davenport, IA)
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Lost in La Mancha

Terry Gilliam: At least if we're going to be fucked, let's know we're fucked ahead of time. "They have a story... but they've lost the plot"Lost in La Mancha is a fascinating documentary of Terry Gilliam's failed attempt to bring Don Quixote's story to life in film. He had worked over a decade on the film and says

August 17, 2011
blkbomb
Melvin White

Super Reviewer

Lost In La Mancha is a video diary of Terry Gilliam's attempt to make his adaptation of Don Quixote in which a modern day advertising executive finds himself transported back in time and mistaken for Quixote's faithful companion Sancho Panza. Failing to get financial backing from Hollywood because of the shadow of his

May 25, 2007
garyX
xGary Xx

Super Reviewer

Lost in La Mancha Quotes

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Latest News for Lost in La Mancha

October 8, 2009:
Gilliam Finds His Don Quixote
Wonders never cease: Terry Gilliam tells Empire that his Don Quixote movie finally has the right...

July 1, 2009:
Gilliam's Don Quixote Moving Ahead Without Depp?
Terry Gilliam is looking ahead to his upcoming projects, including the long-tortured-by-delays "The...

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