‘Lost’ shows Gilliam’s plight

In the classic novel, “Man of La Mancha,” Don Quixote’s noble quest

fighting windmills is personified in Director Terry Gilliam’s

(“Brazil,” “Fisher King,” “Twelve Monkeys”) personal quest to remake

the classic tale. The windmills Gilliam battles while making the film

are the extremely tight budget, an ill equipped crew and the lead

actor’s untimely illness.

The behind-the-scenes documentary set out to film the making of

Gilliam’s “La Mancha” for the film’s DVD release. Instead of

capturing how the film was made, the documentary captures the

mounting obstacles that eventually toppled the production and

prevented the film’s completion.

Making movies is hard but rewarding work. Of all the people

involved in the process, the director’s workload is the heaviest,

simply because they must guide, oversee and approve everyone else’s

work. Which is part of the downfall with the project. The person in

charge of scouting location, for example, finds and books a perfect

remote desert spot for a major scene between the lead actors. Finding

the perfect location, however, is only part of the job. Checking for

external factors such as noise or weather conditions that may

interfere with filming is also necessary. Unfortunately, when cast

and crew arrive the first day on the set they then discover that

there is a NATO jet training naval base right next door. The constant

taking off and landing of the jets drowns out the ability to record

the actors lines. From there it just gets worse beginning with the

flash flood that washes away the film set that the insurance company

doesn’t want to pay for.

Watching Gilliam deal with a difficult situation that goes from

worse to unbelievably cover-your-eyes bad causes a sense that the

director, like the story he is filming, is fighting windmills. It’s

impossible to take delight in Gilliam’s misery. As each problem

erupts the director jumps into action to solve the situation.

However, so many problems crop up that Gilliam finally doubts and

questions whether he knows how to solve them.

The best thing about “Lost In La Mancha” is that unlike the sugar

coated behind-the-scenes DVD’s the documentary gets into the trenches

with the director, his vision, his cast and crew to capture the

intimate details of a disaster, which is what makes the film a

success.

* PEGGY J. ROGERS, 39, produces commercial videos and

documentaries.

‘How to Lose’ is not quite a winner

“How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” is a contrived, but entertaining

film based on a book with a similar title by Jeannie Long and Michele

Alexander.

In the movie, Andie Anderson (Kate Hudson), who is Composure

magazine’s “how-to” columnist, has an unusual assignment with a quick

deadline: She has to write an article that reflects the title of this

film. If Anderson succeeds, she may ingratiate herself with her boss,

who has not yet allowed her to write about the topics she wants to

write about, such as politics, poverty, the environment and foreign

affairs.

Thus, Anderson is on a mission to find a guy, get him to fall in

love with her, then make every dating mistake that she can, so that

he will dump her within 10 days.

Enter Advertising Executive Benjamin Barry (Matthew McConaughey),

who has also made a high-stakes bet with his boss that he can make a

woman fall in love with him in 10 days. If he succeeds, he will win a

major client’s account. In the magical world of coincidence, these

two find one another and begin to realize their shallow business

agendas are not as important as the love they find along the way.

The film also features Robert Klein, Bebe Neuwirth and Shalom

Harlow. The screenplay was written by Kristen Buckley, Brian Regan

and Burr Steers. Directed by Donald Petrie, the film employs many

schmaltzy romance cliches, but Petrie keeps the story moving, though

each scene stretches the audience’s trust.

Although Hudson and McConaughey show great chemistry and are

charming and exuberant, the film spends most of its time portraying

the pretend versions of Andie and Ben that they perform for one

another. When the two really do fall in love, we are left wondering

exactly who these people are. For instance, we never really see the

serious “politics, poverty, environment and foreign affairs” side of

Andie or learn anything of her life outside of work.

Don’t get me wrong, the film is cute and fun and puts into

perspective the expectations we have in relationships and the desire

to not be alone. Additionally, this film captures the empty promises

of the business world and how most of us can easily disengage from

reality and treat our careers as the most important elements in our

life, even though they truly are not.

Despite the film’s extreme predictability, the movie fits nicely

in the romantic comedy genre and is a satisfying way to spend 112

minutes.

* RAY BUFFER, 33, is a professional singer, actor and voice-over

artist.