The Fisher King (1991)

This is not so much a comedy as a traumatic set of events in New York among people who are living on the fringe of the middle class, a radio talk show anchorman and a videotape-shop woman. Some traumatic event brings the anchorman to a strange phase in his life. One of the people he got on his last radio show got an answer that was a little bit rough and he committed suicide. The anchorman gets depressed and runs into some totally off-limits neighborhood and he gets in touch with some street people, homeless people. And that's how he meets Parry, a deranged history professor who has been, since the day his wife was shot dead by a mass killer who entered the restaurant where they were having some dinner, haunted by historical fantasies about some Red Knight who is after him to kill himWe are dealing here with insanity as a way to live in some fantasy world and at the same time to be able to cope with the dramatic dimension of this fantasy world by escaping the traumatic real world. He is systematically chased and hunted by that red knight made of fire and then he can only run away, and away, and eventually back to his safe zone, his refuge in an underground boiler room in an off-limits zone. The film is cruel about the way these people are treated. As long as they are not dangerous to other people or to themselves they are abandoned in the streets. When they turn dangerous they are dealt with, by the police if they endanger someone else, or some psychiatric institution if they only endanger themselves or if they turn catatonic. Don't expect any humanity in such institutions. The people there are just kept alive as long as they can be kept alive, and at some point along the road, they might be nicely accompanied into the other side of the living border. Jack, the anchorman, suddenly feels some kind of call and behaves as if he had a mission concerning this Parry. So, with the help of his girlfriend, he gets him out of his underworld and little by little makes him wash, eat, drink, dress properly and Jack discovers that Parry has been observing the city and has noticed a woman who works in some bank or financial institution of some sort. She is a solitary woman, in fact, a woman who is extremely afraid of other people. So Parry's attraction is the fact he feels on her side the same solitude as on his side. Jack and his girlfriend will be the intercessors and they will, the four of them end up in a Chinese restaurant. Quite a strange adventure. Parry then takes The young woman, Sandra back to her place but he does not go upstairs as she suggests, not this time, maybe next time, though he is hard and as big as Florida. Alone then on the street, the Red Knight arrives and starts chasing him and of course, he runs away to his security zone, his off-limits area but he is dressed for going out, for a date in a restaurant and he is thus attacked by local hooligans who do not like the rich. He ends up catatonic in some institution for sick and helpless homeless people. That's when the film takes a turn for the more surprising and I won't reveal it. Jack plays the insane game of Parry to try and get him back. That's when this social tragedy turns into a comedy in no way social at all. The end is just plainly funny-strange and of course absolutely unrealistic in any way. Entertaining in its last fourth after three fourths that were quite educational.Dr. Jacques COULARDEAU

"The Fisher King" is an ambitious movie that ventures in so many territories and genres I can't believed it worked. Its power seems accidental, but I can't deny it, the film moved me. I didn't love all of it, but what I loved were moments of pure emotional brilliance I had so rarely encountered I couldn't let my judgment being clouded by (what I take as) Terry Gilliam's artistic licenses.It starts with Jack, a successful Howard Stern-like DJ played by Jeff Bridges, who involuntarily inspires an auditor to commit a shooting-spree in a yuppie restaurant of New York City. At the eve of a promising TV career, he just sees the foundations of his life: limo, 20-years younger girlfriend, some upper-class building in Manhattan, everything, falling apart. Three years later, he works in a sleazy video store owned by Anne Mercedes Ruehl as a sexy, down-to-earth woman in her forties, who loves Jack as sincerely as he hates his life.Jack's hopes seem all in stand-by, but the disillusion becomes too heavy a burden, and any vision of happiness too muddy, to believe in a destiny of greatness like Walt Disney or… Hitler. At that point of the film, it is very poignant to see Bridges playing such an anti-Dude character, and it reveals something essential about him, all the arrogance he displayed before was just a front, he cared for people, only not enough to admit it. Naturally, something's got to stop him from jumping over the bridge and Robin Williams' exuberant entrance is supposed to be that moment where the film "comes alive".Only, this is where it almost lost the sensitive appeal it built, by getting frantically weird and surreal. It is temporary but you don't know it at the first viewing and Robin Williams' spectacular introduction doesn't prepare you for how great he is. He's a bizarre and loud fellow, and even the fight sequence between the bums and the thugs borrow from two overused tropes: the eccentric bums and Williams' own eccentricity. Thankfully, his character is given more substance later. Jack learns that Parry was a teacher, and that he lost his wife in the infamous shooting. Bingo, Jack's got a reason to live.Jack can hardly stand Parry's antics (and that's imperative so we can also feel connected to Jack, therefore to a sense of reality), but Jack wants to help him. For that, he plays the matchmaker between him and Lydia, a meek and mousy office worker played by Amanda Plummer. Parry ceases to be a walking cliché, he's not entrapped in his past, he's got goals and room for love. And the whole journey is a fascinating mix between realism and fantasy, with everything happening in the name of love. When it comes to love the 'Fantasy' works in a beautiful and poetic way, like the subway station turning into a ballroom but the film could have done without the more sinister material.Indeed, the screenplay is filled with moments of brilliance in the writing and they all involve the realistic parts, like a powerful stargazing moment where Parry tells the story of the Fisher King and we understand that he's foreshadowing Jack's redemption. Parry is a man who believes in the old-school form of love while Jack tells him that you don't need to earn a woman in the 20th century, still, he's cynical but not enough to be totally unlikable. In fact, it's through Anne's eyes that we can measure how likable he is, and through his detachment and the cat-and-mouse game he plays with her heart, we know he's got something to learn too, from (what seems to be) Parry's journey.But Gilliam seems to believe that a subplot involving the quest for a Holy Grail might be the key. Why? The question could be "why not?", it took one crazy lunatic to change Jack's life, it's only fair that the meeting of Parry restores some order. But the film could have worked as well had it focused on the four characters and without any 'interludes'. I will not have enough words to describe how powerful the Oscar-winning performance of Mercedes Ruehl is, she's the only character who feels real, Jack is real but so self-centered he's disconnected to reality, even the way he helps Parry is driven by his selfish desire to be redeemed. Lydia is real but only see her through the idealized vision of Parry, and she becomes interesting when she talks to Anne.Yep, for all the hallucinations, the crazy dance number of the late Michael Jeter and that 'Holy Grail' sequence, it's these little touches like a woman-to-woman discussion and small tender exchanges, that the film work. And Mercedes Ruehl is part of many of them. Maybe Terry Gilliam can get away with all the fantasy sequences, maybe because all these characters have a power that makes us care for them, they need love, and need to be loved. Maybe. Only Jack seems to be the blind one and without spoiling the film, it's his very persistence that makes the two last scene so rewarding, something that borrows to the charm of such gems as "City lights". I don't know if the film inspired Gilliam but I can't believe it didn't, even unconsciously. "City Lights" was also about a Tramp who saved a man from suicide and at the end someone could finally see, it is also Chaplin who proved that you can make a film about poverty and inject some fantasy, like the dream sequence in "The Kid", it wasn't the best part of the film, but it didn't ruin it. So maybe there's something Chaplinesque in that 90's tale, it is bizarre mix of genres and messages, but that within its creative chaos, manages to create a real fireworks of emotions… that beautifully implode at the end. "The Fisher King" is really one of a kind.

Frankly I don't understand all the enthusiasm!?Plot? There is no real plot. OK fine there is one, a very classical arrogant successful guy hits a rock, sinks low, and then discovers generosity and helping others which makes him a better person. Yawn. OK, not yawn per se, but yawn in this film.Acting? - Robin Williams is Robin Williams in a one man show, or close to one; he does his usual part when someone lets him, i.e. if you remove his costume in your imagination you find that you could be in pretty much any other made for Robin Williams (Patch Adams, Mrs Doubtfire, Jumanji, etc.) He overacts so much and so constantly that it kills much of the movie that isn't Robin Williams - Jeff Bridges does his usual slow-moving, quiet, I'm not really sure I understand what is going on here thing. A bit like in K-Pax in many ways. He is at his best when he plays that he's drunk. - Amanda Plummer looks exactly like, hey I am a young actress and I worked hard and watched a lot of people with some mental and behavioural issues and look at how well I can portray such a person, only no, at no time is she even remotely credible. Someone go watch Jodie Foster in Nell, or Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man. - Mercedes Ruehl shines among this crowd. She is the only truly credible character, she acts, she has presence, it works. And what helps is that she has a "nice guy" part where she is kind, lovable, generous, you name it. Her award was well deserved.Filming / editing / pace? - something just doesn't work. Some bits are terribly terribly slow and without much if any content, but yet not achieving any particular depth that would justify this slow pace. Some bits are full of agitation and screaming but not sure why. Oh and there is the Red Knight which isn't really that useful and seems lifted directly from Baron Munchausen (where Robin Wiliams had a part btw).Bottom-line? Not a good arrogance meets punishment meets redemption movie. Average to downright terrible acting (or at any rate, overly dominant and very monotonous). Issues with pace. Terry Gilliam has made several films that I really like - but this one just doesn't work for me, sorry. And I really, really don't understand all the super-positive reviews, I just don't. Is no one going to scream, "hey the king is naked!" ?

It had been a couple of years since I last watched this film and I must say I have found more appreciation for it since. Redemption is a strong theme of this film as it tells the story of a shock jock, who becomes suicidal after a listener he offended going on a murderous rampage and in order to redeem himself, helps a homeless man who was affected by the tragedy. Jeff Bridges is one of the stars in this underrated dramedy, playing shock jock Jack Lucas who comes across as arrogant and obnoxious but starts to show a softer side as the film progresses. The other star of the film is the incomparable Robin Williams who plays Parry, a mentally disturbed homeless man who has hallucinations about knights and believes himself to be on the quest for the "Holy Grail". The acting in this movie is top notch as the cast give close to career best performances, Jeff Bridges proves he is truly an underrated actor from his generation and Robin Williams perfectly blends his dramatic and comedic sides here to give one of his best all-round performances. Most people see Williams in more strictly funny roles like Mrs Doubtfire, Patch Adams and the like but he is one heck of a good actor, one of the best comedic actors of all time. Amanda Plummer sort of plays against type in this movie as Lydia by not playing her usual crazy woman roles (ie. Pulp Fiction) but in a way, it is Mercedes Ruehl who steals the show as Anne Napolitano, the girlfriend of Jack who is not just eye candy but is almost like a voice of reason to him. Speaking of Ruehl, she fascinated me as I always used to wonder why she won an Oscar for this role but not every Oscar winning role needs a member of the audience to feel sad or cry, she does the opposite by making me laugh and bringing deeper meaning to her character which is hard to do in a comedy. And of course, credit must go to Terry Gilliam who strikes gold with this modernistic take on an Arthurian tale and is personally the mastermind of weird movies such as this. But whoever said weird was bad? If you think so, I suggest you take time to appreciate "weirdness" such as this.