DVD DETAILS:
Vision
Gilliam adapts his visual style to suit this assessment of balance and such is preserved in this anamorphic widescreen transfer. Gilliam is known for visual extravagance, in particular his fondness for off-kilter camera positions and wide-angle lenses and an often hallucinatory sense of imaginative fantasy. The Fisher King is his most grounded work. He employs the techniques but gradually associates them with the emotional and psychological imbalances of the characters rather than the world around them. As the characters find stability, so too the film becomes less stylized and the restoration of psychological order becomes a key motif: selflessness arguably permits the transition. The parallels between Williams and Bridges are featured throughout, and Williams brilliantly explores the quirky humanity of the psychotic. In its sense of the interplay between grounded reality and a psychotic sense of both magic and fear, The Fisher King is Gilliam’s self-reflexive assessment of his own imagination in relation to Hollywood forms. The DVD transfer, however, has noticeable flaws: it is frequently grainy, background clarity is often wanting and interior scenes feel too hot and fleshy (particularly inside Ruehl’s apartment). The Grand Central Station scene remains one of the most magical scenes in all of Gilliam’s work and the use of costume and disheveled appearances works well – both Williams and Bridges gradually cleaned up.
Sound
The sound transfer is in Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo only. Nice use is made of “forgive me” as a refrain – the phrase also hits on the crux of Bridges’ sense of guilty self-absorption. The audio design and in particular the score enhance the sense of over-lapping tonality and the way in which relationships always hover above the potentially tragic – this idea of fragility recurs throughout the film. The sounds of the city (traffic and people) serve as reminders of the ordinary reality surrounding these characters and give the emotional flights of fancy a common ground to return to. As befits a film about psychosis, there is often a hallucinatory quality – and indeed, the idea of hallucination as a kind of ritual confrontation is stressed in the final scenes where Bridges sees his own personal demon (and the force working against his selflessness). Fine use is made of Bridges listening to the tapes of his former shows as a means of charting his intent to return to what he once was, if he can. What is also interesting is that Bridges’ radio persona aggressiveness implies parallel to the vitriolic misanthropy of Eric Bogosian in Oliver Stone’s Talk Radio: in some respects, The Fisher King is a retort to that film, calling to task the irresponsible humanity of the shock-jock phenomenon and moving towards humanity rather than misanthropy. Overall, the sound transfer is only moderately engaging, despite the clever design of the film itself. read more
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