The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

Friday, June 28 - Saturday, June 29, 2013

35mm print

“A massive flop turned cult favorite, MUNCHAUSEN casts British stage actor John Neville as a legendary tale-spinner who joins forces with precocious moppet Sarah Polley and reunites with his trusted band of adventurers to save a city from Turkish invaders. Neville’s preposterous quest sends him spinning through fantastic worlds, from a lunar wonderland ruled by the disembodied head of Robin Williams to the insides of a sea creature to the subterranean lair of the Roman God Vulcan (Oliver Reed).

“MUNCHAUSEN presents its fantasist hero as a glorious anachronism, a proponent of wonder in an age of reason and rationality. In that respect, he mirrors Gilliam’s gloriously old-fashioned cinematic fantasia, which boasts a retro charm and craftsmanship unthinkable in our CGI-addled era. A feast for the eyes, Munchausen solidifies Gilliam’s status as a crucial link between the cine-magic of Georges Méliès and the homemade dream-worlds of Michel Gondry. The script is fortified with Python-esque verbal humor, but it wouldn’t take much tweaking to transform Munchausen into a silent film. Throw in a naked Uma Thurman at the height of her nubile beauty, and you have a rambling but irresistibly powerful illustration of what the film’s terminally practical villain (Jonathan Pryce) sneeringly refers to as ‘hot air and fantasy.'” – The Onion A.V. Club

• Country USA
• Rating PG
• Year 1988
• Running Time 124 minutes
• Director Terry Gilliam

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