The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
Dir: Terry Gilliam
1988
****
It's fair to say that many people didn't know what to make of Terry Gilliam's first solo (non-Monty Python) outing, particularly the critics who rather lazily declared it 'One of the worst films of all time' completely overlooking its brilliance and rather obviously concentrating on its now famous financial struggles. Times haven't changed much. Many critics have now rewritten history and have declared they loved it from the beginning - indeed it says so even on Wikipedia but look deep enough on the internet all you'll find all the original cutting reviews. I have a couple at home in old film magazines. It's fair to say Gilliam should have learnt his lesson. He didn't (see 2002's Lost in La Mancha) but I'm glad he never sold out like he could have done. The shooting of the film sounded pretty treturous with Eric Idle saying after the wrap "Up until Munchausen, I'd always been very smart about Terry Gilliam films. You don't ever be in them. Go and see them by all means - but to be in them, f**king madness!!!" I bet he's glad he's in it now as it represents the birth of a genre, albeit a one man genre but a unique style of film in its own right. Gilliamism.