The Fisher King
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Movie Reviews of The Fisher King
Movie Review: Who is the red knight?
Summary: 5 Stars
There are few films that feel as layered as `The Fisher King'. There is a lot here to process, and sometimes it can feel as though you've got it all and then it hits you that you haven't even begun to scratch the surface yet. The film is simply stunning, and certainly one of a kind. In ways it reminds me of `Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'. It is unique, visual and deeply moving, and like that '04 masterpiece, `The Fisher King' is a film that stays with you, a film that unveils itself to you slowly; bit by bit.
The film opens with shock jock Jack Lucas verbally attacking a man to the point where he takes a loaded shotgun into a bar, opens fire and then kills himself. Emotionally devastated by the act, Jack turns into a reclusive shell of a man, resorting to alcohol and basically living off of his girlfriend, Anne. After a night of drinking, Jack finds himself at the mercy of some thugs who think he is homeless only to have his life saved by a crazy man named Parry who happens to think he is a knight on a mission from God to find the Holy Grail. Jack soon learns that Parry is the widower of one of the victims in the bar shooting. Feeling almost obligated to make things right, Jack follows Parry around, looking for ways to help restore his sanity.
As it turns out, Jack is the one who needs saving.
Tackling the weighty subjects of loss, guilt, insanity, alcoholism, redemption, selfishness, selflessness and love, `The Fisher King' does a major juggling act, and it pulls it off flawlessly. With the right touches of comedic timing, the film flourishes with emotional longevity and comes across relatable and poignant.
And the acting is a goldmine.
I have friends, who feel that Robin Williams is over-the-top here, and for the first half of the film I understand where they are coming from, but he completely pulls everything in towards the end and fully develops this heartbreaking character. The way he shifts from crazed lunatic to seemingly stable (the scene where he attempts to mate with Anne) to tragically haunted is just mesmerizing. Williams certainly has his own comedic style, and some find it blatantly irritating, but he really makes this character his own. His more emotional and dramatic scenes are simply flawless. His two big monologues (the `Fisher King' story and his "I love you" scene with Plummer) are two of the films big highlights. Just as good, if not even better, is Jeff Bridges. I actually feel that Bridges gives the better performance here because he doesn't have any gimmicks to rely on. He doesn't have the `crazy' to draw attention his way. He simply has to construct this man's unrelenting guilt from scratch and convince us that he is emotionally crippled because of his failure as a human being. He does that effortlessly.
That scene, in the hospital, tears in his eyes...UGH.
Now, Oscar hardly gets things right in my book, and this year was not an exception (Foster for Best Actress? Palance for Supporting Actor?) but one thing that they got SO right was Mercedes Ruehl for Supporting Actress. Her performance here is simply stunning. She has so much attitude and charisma, but it isn't just a showy gimmick with her. She has embodied Anne with so much heart and soul and emotional complexity. Her breakdown towards the films end is the single greatest scene of the entire year.
In the end, I totally recommend this amazing film. This is a stunning and thought provoking film that will break and then mend your heart. There is depth here that is a rarity in this day and age. The moral of this film certainly lies within Jack's shift from selfish to selfless, and that statement is strong and unforgettable.
With stunning performances, sharp direction and a one-of-a-kind script, `The Fisher King' is easily one of the best films of the 90's.
Movie Review: A SENSITIVE BUDDY MOVIE AND A LOVE STORY...WOW!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a beautifully directed film, as Terry Gilliam exacts bravura performances from the entire cast. This film is a cinematic masterpiece which the viewer will not easily forget.
Jeff Bridges plays Jack, a radio shock jock whose unthinking tirade provokes a caller into a senseless act of violence that culminates in tragedy for a number of faceless New Yorkers. The tragedy derails Jack's career and ends his glitteratti lifestyle. Gone is the fabulous hi-rise apartment, model type girl friend, and high paying media career.
Three years later, Jack finds himself living over a video store in a run down part of town with the video store owner, a blue collar ex-beautician, consummately played by Mercedes Ruehl, in a bravura performance that won her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar, and deservedly so. Despairing of his life and looking like the bum he believes himself to be, Jack goes down by the water front and toys with the idea of killing himself.
The issue is taken out of his hands when he is accosted by two youths who are sick of "his kind", as they apparently mistake him for part of the great unwashed horde of humanity of which they are heartedly sick. They beat him with a baseball bat and douse him from head to toe with gasoline, but just before they ignite him, a knight errant named Parry, touchingly played by Robin Williams, comes to his rescue and saves him from an untimely and excruciating death.
Parry takes Jack to his refuge, and there Parry tells him of his quest for the Holy Grail. A curious bond between the two men begins to form. After Jack leaves, he later returns, curious to know more about this strange, but kindly individual who saved his life. Jack discovers that Parry was a former college professor whose own life drastically changed three years ago, when a caller to a shock jock's show went on a shooting rampage and killed Parry's beloved wife, one of the faceless New Yorkers who for Jack is faceless no more.
Jack, realizing that their lives are intertwined by that tragedy, seeks redemption by trying to help Parry resume a normal life. Clearly mentally ill, Parry's battle with his inner demons is seen through his eyes. The viewer is made to feel the heartbreak and pathos of his fears which are brought to life in the fearsome visage of the Red Knight, a figment of Parry's imagination who appears intermittently throughout the film, until it gives way to Parry's fragmented recollection of that fatal night three years ago. Robin Williams portrayal of Parry is one of the most beautifully nuanced performances ever. That he did not win the Best Actor Oscar for which he was nominated was truly a major faux pas on the part of the Academy.
Jack wades through Parry's fantasies of knights, quests, and the holy grail and discovers that Parry has fallen in love with an unlikely lady, the plainly hapless Lydia, played to perfection by Amanda Plummer. He engineers an unlikely meeting and sets in motion a dazzling sequence of events that ultimately results in his redemption as a human being, and an appreciation of his own lady love.
This is a wonderful film that no movie lover should be without. While the DVD is notable for its dearth of extras, do not let that deter you from adding it to your collection. The film alone should suffice.
Movie Review: A profound experience
Summary: 5 Stars
The Fisher King is a representational movie. It makes use of Arthurian legend, and parallels the legend of the Fisher King with the lives of the two main protagonists - Parry (Robin Williams) and Jack (Jeff Bridges). Symbolism and metaphorical techniques are utilisied extensively throughout the film, which makes it an extremely visual experience to watch. However, the symbolism extends beyond the visual plane, to a very psychological one. For example, Parry's creation of a fantastical world full of 'little fat people' and the 'Red Knight', is very much representative of his own mental condition; the fantasy world, minus the Red Knight, represents Parry's acceptance/ignorance of his mental trauma. At the same time the Red Knight is symbolic of the pain and suffering as caused by the trauma itself.Whenever Parry shows glimpes of sanity (lucid speech, dating, feeling love again, etc.), the Red Knight always appears in his life. While the Red Knight is at bay Parry is not catatonic or overwrought by his trauma. To overcome/accept the trauma of seeing his wife murdered before his eyes, ultimately Parry has to confront the Red Knight and vanguish him. However, he lacks the insight and strength to do this on his own. Enter Jack - who ultimately feels responsible for Parry's condition! Jack is the equivalent of the fool or simpleton from the story of the Fisher King. Jack's intent is one of redemption, while he is absorbed into Parry's world. Eventually Jack begins to understand Parry's need for the Holy Grail, which represents Acceptance of Loss. If Parry is able to possess the Holy Grail, then he shall be able to vanguish Insanity as represented by the Red Knight.
While there are elements of fantasy and Arthurian legend woven into this story, there is also a theme of Christianity. Originally Jack is driven by a need to regain the former glory of his life when he was a successful talkback radio host. He wants that life back and believes that by helping Parry, he will overcome his guilt, and thus be able to resume his former life. Jack feels a false resolution in his life when he regains his former life. However, ultimately, when Jack agrees to undertake the quest for the Holy Grail, only then do his motives become self-less. He helps Parry because he wants to, not because he needs to drive away his own guilt - this is very much part of the Christian Doctrine.
On the whole, The Fisher King is an intricate weaving of comedy, drama and tragedy. The direction by Gilliam is faultless, his attention to detail evident especially in the Chinese Restaurant scene, where he borrows from Chinese film-making techniques, using the vertical black bar wipe technique.
This is the type of movie which, on a superficial level, is only somewhat satisfying. However, it is on the psychological level where its real impact is felt - tragic, hopeful and uplifting. It is not the type of movie to watch if you are expecting to be entertained!
Movie Review: Gilliam's Best
Summary: 5 Stars
This film is Director Terry Gilliam's best for one simple reason: it is his most successful marriage of modern story to mythic content. Just as the first three Star Wars movies (Episodes IV-VI) succeeded in captivating the hearts and minds of its viewers on a deep, spiritual level amidst the revolutionary special effects, Gilliam has taken a segment of New York city's extremes and has recasted the Holy Grail adventure in modern, well-tailored clothes. This movie serves as, perhaps, the best motion picture example of the Jungian theory of individuation I have seen. The main characters map nicely to the ego-shadow-anima trio with Jack (Jeff Bridges) playing an ego maniac who suffers a Icarian fall and is brought to face his shadow, Perry (Robin Williams), who is anything but egotistical and selfish. Providing both support and unintentionally inhibiting his progress is his anima/mother figure of a girlfriend Anne (Mercedes Ruehl) whom he must grow both toward and away from as any immature young man must do as he learns to see his significant other as not a replacement mother but soulmate. But Perry and Anne are also not just projections, but characters with their own depth and complexity each developing a relationship with the other in significant, plot building ways. Moreso than in any of Gilliam's other films is the stories' plot capable of producing a successful vehicle for Gilliam's well-known propensity for complexity that normally tends to muddy the focus of his efforts to the detriment of the film.
Simultaneous to the achievement of the Grail is Jack's rescuing of his shadow Perry (through his final, willing ego sacrifice) and his readiness to unite on an equal level with his beloved anima Anne. Truly the Grail represents the achievement of the individuated personality, one that has reconciled ego to shadow to anima all while developing a successful interface (persona) with society that allows the individual to be both successful and moral. These truths, as elucidated by C.G. Jung, underlie what most draws us to stories and speak to our deepest spiritual needs. The Fisher King provides a concise outline of this complex process just as clear as the first Star Wars movie presented us with a concise example of Joseph Campbell's hero's journey. With the obvious mythological references found in most of the content of his other works, this movie must represent an ideal match of story form and content to Gilliam's personal interests. And could it be (as with Stephen King and his literal monsters that end up detracting from the story) that when Gilliam makes a movie about a basically non-(literally)mythical-magical world, his tendency to overdue his scenes with fantasical, but finally, distracting wonderment is suitably restrained?
Movie Review: HEALING THE HEARTS OF MEN
Summary: 5 Stars
In my humble opinion, Terry Gilliam is a genius -- without question one of the most talented and imaginative direcors working in film today. All of his work -- BRAZIL, TIME BANDITS, 12 MONKEYS, &c -- stands up head and shoulders above almost everything else the motion picture industry spews out, but THE FISHER KING is, I believe, his greatest achievement.All of the actors are superbly cast -- and each of them throws themselves completely into their assigned roles, to the point of BECOMING their character, which, unless I miss my guess, is what acting is about. Robin Williams couldn't be more perfect as Perry, the heartsick man with a shattered heart, who has lost his beloved wife in an act of senseless violence. Jeff Bridges, as the radio 'shock-jock' whose flippant comment to a disturbed listener triggered the shooting, is utterly convincing as the guilt-ridden Jack, locked into a downward spiral, despite the love and care vested on him by his girlfriend (Mercedes Reuhl). Then there's Amanda Plummer, portraying the hapless, mousy Lydia -- with whom, as soon as he sees her, Williams falls head over heels in love.
There are four characters here in a great deal of pain, each trying in their own way to deal with it -- with varying degrees of succcess. The way in which their paths cross, and merge, in this story, and the impact they have on each other's lives, makes for one of the most moving tales of love/pain/healing that has ever been brought to the screen. Gilliam's own unique vision guides it along nicely -- you can see his most obvious touch in the visions experience by Williams of the Red Knight, one of the most frightening apparitions you'll ever run across.
The film vividly shows the torturing, deep pain of utter loss, as well as our vital need to be loved -- and our need to perform acts of kindness, and to seek forgiveness for the wrongs that we have done. The love story between Williams and Plummer is one of the sweetest -- and most convincing -- ever in a film. It's enough to give us hope that, truly, anything is possible. Jack's road to redemption is a rocky one -- as is his own love story, which is bound up with that of Perry and Lydia. The lengths to which he ultimately will go in order to help his friend are stunning, inspiring, and, most importantly, believable.
THE FISHER KING is a modern masterpiece -- and one that will, I think, continue to move viewers for many, many years. It's story is a timeless one, skillfully brought to the screen by a modern master. If you want to show someone how good film can be, show them THE FISHER KING.