Lost in La Mancha

While there are plenty of documentaries about classic films, the number of paeans to pictures that were abandoned during production are relatively rare. Filmmakers Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe's Lost in La Mancha began as a straightforward effort to memorialize Terry Gilliam's making of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, a characteristically imaginative 2000 adaptation of Cervantes' early 17th century novel. Instead it became a record of how a too-tight budget, inhospitable Spanish locations, and the indisposition of star Jean Rochefort led to the project unraveling after only a few days' shooting. Watching things collapse around the obsessed, driven director has both funny and sad moments, and the end of the venture is made more poignant by the fact that the few completed scenes (featuring not only the elegant, sad-faced Rochefort but Johnny Depp as a modern Sancho Panza) have considerable style and grandeur. Ably narrated by actor Jeff Bridges, Lost in La Mancha is a minor masterpiece of moviemaking tragi-comedy that will fascinate buffs and, in all likelihood, give would-be directors pause before tilting at cinematic windmills. Highly recommended. [Note: DVD extras include five cast/crew interviews (including a 22-minute interview with Johnny Depp), nine deleted scenes with text intros (including two alternate openings), the 54-minute featurette “A Conversation from the 29th Telluride Film Festival” with Terry Gilliam and Salman Rushdie, the 58-minute “IFC Focus: Terry Gilliam” featurette, six “soundbites” featurettes (3-8 min. each, about topics including “Gilliam's Attachment to Quixote” and “European Financing”), storyboards, production stills, costume designs, a DVD catalog (with select text and preview info), and a trailer. Bottom line: a fine extras package for an excellent documentary.] (F. Swietek)