I love Richard LaGravenese. I love Terry Gilliam. I love this movie. Everyone loves Robin Williams and Jeff Bridges; that goes without saying. Each and every actor in this movie gives a sparkling performance. They are all great actors, that is true enough, but credit must go to the director as the enabler, the catalyst. This movie is a prime example of the magic that happens when there is a confluence of a great screenwriter, a great director, and great actors. How does this happen? Like the movie's story, like life in general, it is the combination of random, accidental events, and direction we set for ourselves. Parry had chosen the direction of being a school teacher and presumably living a normal life, when the accidental event of his wife's murder radically altered the course of his life.
For me, the central story was the love story between Parry and Lydia. How many guys can identify with Parry! His adoration from afar. His fear of approaching his beloved. His not knowing how to dress. His not knowing what to say. His indifference to her flaws. But the scene where they are standing at her front door, and he looks into her eyes, he has become completely rational, completely sane, regaining for a moment his old personality that he had before he was traumatized. Parry: "I'm not coming up to your apartment. That was never my intention. Oh I want to. I have a hard-on for you the size of Florida. But I don't want just one night. I have a confession I have to make to you. I'm in love with you. Not just from tonight. I've known you for a long time. I know you come out from work at noon. I know if its a good day if you stop and get that romance novel at that bookstore. On Wednesdays you go to that dim sum parlor. I know... I love you. I think you're the greatest thing since spice racks. And I'd be knocked out several times if I could just have that first kiss. And I won't be distant. I'll call you if you let me. But I still don't drink coffee."
Terry Gilliam has the ability to mix absurdly fantastic scenes with scenes of everyday life seamlessly. Doing so conveys the story with impact and emotion, capturing our attention, fascinating us. No one in the audience nods off during this film. Is it an accident that in an earlier incarnation, Terry Gilliam was involved with a troupe that made movies about Holy Grails and The Meaning of Life? It is no accident that both of those subjects are given a much more satisfying treatment in The Fisher King.
For me, the central story was the love story between Parry and Lydia. How many guys can identify with Parry! His adoration from afar. His fear of approaching his beloved. His not knowing how to dress. His not knowing what to say. His indifference to her flaws. But the scene where they are standing at her front door, and he looks into her eyes, he has become completely rational, completely sane, regaining for a moment his old personality that he had before he was traumatized. Parry: "I'm not coming up to your apartment. That was never my intention. Oh I want to. I have a hard-on for you the size of Florida. But I don't want just one night. I have a confession I have to make to you. I'm in love with you. Not just from tonight. I've known you for a long time. I know you come out from work at noon. I know if its a good day if you stop and get that romance novel at that bookstore. On Wednesdays you go to that dim sum parlor. I know... I love you. I think you're the greatest thing since spice racks. And I'd be knocked out several times if I could just have that first kiss. And I won't be distant. I'll call you if you let me. But I still don't drink coffee."
Terry Gilliam has the ability to mix absurdly fantastic scenes with scenes of everyday life seamlessly. Doing so conveys the story with impact and emotion, capturing our attention, fascinating us. No one in the audience nods off during this film. Is it an accident that in an earlier incarnation, Terry Gilliam was involved with a troupe that made movies about Holy Grails and The Meaning of Life? It is no accident that both of those subjects are given a much more satisfying treatment in The Fisher King.