The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (Closing Night)

Running time: N/A

Cinequest’s grand Closing Night gives the audience one of the most anticipated films-a film almost 30 years in the making-iconic director Terry Gilliam’s adventure-comedy The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. Brimming with imaginative ideas from the very beginning, Gilliam’s magnum opus celebrates its source material with delight-as it takes on the classic adventures of Don Quixote and infuses it with a reflective commentary on art and the madness of our own world. Adam Driver (Girl, Star Wars) is Toby, a young artist who has lost the zeal for his craft and is working in advertising. One night, while in a Spanish tavern, he is given a copy of a student film he made ten years ago about Don Quixote. Realizing he is not far from where he shot it, he revisits the small village and discovers the profound effects the movie has had there. In fact, the shoemaker (Jonathan Pryce, Brazil) he had cast as his lead actually believes he IS Don Quixote, and is now convinced Toby is his Sancho Panza. Thus begins a strange and magical journey across Spain, where reality and dreams merge into a surreal landscape that is at times chaotic, hilarious, fantastical, and exactly the visionary experience to be expected from the masterful Gilliam. With top performances from both Pryce and Driver, Gilliam’s penchant for compelling chaos is indulged in the most amazing ways, with sequences that elicit gasps of both astonishment and wonder in plentiful supply. It’s an experience of magical proportions!