The Fisher King arrived on home video this week in 1992, after a September 20th, 1991 theatrical release.
Terry Gilliam’s touching and lyrical follow-up to the Python-esque chaotic anarchy that was the infamous Baron Munchausen is a gorgeously poignant exploration of loss, heartbreak and redemption… and of course there’s a quest for the Holy Grail.
Everyone has a favourite Gilliam movie, and if you ask me (or even if you don’t) The Fisher King is my personal favourite. Back in my college days, my friends and I would spend countless smoky coffee shop hours discussing its symbolic minutia and the ways in which the characters, all bungled and botched, process and echo their pain.
Like the work of Kubrick or the Coens, this is the sort of erudite art house movie that’s rife for interpretation and deconstruction without being overly pretentious or turgid. This one really grips me by the heart and squeezes. Hard.
I’ll gladly espouse this movie’s quality ad nauseum to anyone who’ll listen. And if they don’t like it… Hey.
Forgive me.