Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Sep 16, 2005Absurdist Parody of the Arthurian Legends
The first of the Monty Python films, a wickedly funny, willfully nonsensical take on King Arthur and the knightly quest. Contains many classic Python gags
Terry Gilliam
Jabberwocky (1977)
Dec 21, 2000Mediaeval Quest Black Comedy
This was the first solo directorial outing from Terry Gilliam outside of Monty Python, a fantasy film that is a dark and frenetic skewering of the cinematic portrayal of the Middle Ages
Monty Python’s The Life of Brian (1979)
Jul 15, 2002Accidental Messiah Absurdist Comedy
The Monty Python team's finest hour, a wickedly irreverent spoof on Christianity that contains some of their most side-splitting gags
Time Bandits (1981)
Jul 29, 2002Gonzo Adventures Throughout Time
Highly enjoyable Terry Gilliam film about a young boy who joins a group of dwarves on a series of adventures though time
Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life (1983)
Jun 1, 2001Absurdist Comedy Skits
The third and last of the Monty Python films, a variety of skits that are variously outrageous and frequently leave behind all good taste
Brazil (1985)
Aug 1, 2001Dystopian Black Comedy
Terry Gilliam's satire on Nineteen Eighty-Four is a darkly brilliant work - it is a madly out of control film but is filled moments of wild imagination and black-than-black humour than make it an unnerving ride
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989)
Jun 3, 1999World's Greatest Liar's Absurdist Adventures
Terry Gilliam's adaptation of the adventures of the world's greatest liar was another problem ridden Gilliam production that emerges as an absurd, colourful spectacle filled with a dizzying greatness of imagination
The Fisher King (1991)
Sep 14, 2002Modern-Day Grail Quest
Terry Gilliam's finest moment, a modernised knightly quest where radio dj Jeff Bridges is dragged into helping homeless man Robin Williams find the Holy Grail. A film made by its performances and warm and eventually soaring characterisations
Twelve Monkeys (1995)
Nov 24, 2002Time Paradox
Terry Gilliam remakes the classic short film La Jetee as one of the most impressive of modern time travel films with an exceptional plot that is built around a sophisticated time paradox
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
Aug 20, 2003Surreal Drug Hallucinations/Hunter S. Thompson Adaptation
In attempting to capture the surreal, paranoiac drug haze of Hunter S. Thompson’s counter-culture classic, Terry Gilliam's adaptation becomes a rambling, self-indulgent mess of tripped-out visions that go on and on
Tideland (2005)
Feb 23, 2008Surreal World of Childhood Imagination
Bizarre but undeniably brilliant Terry Gilliam film about a young girl in the cornfields of the Midwest who builds a fantasy out of the sometimes disturbing things around her
The Brothers Grimm (2005)
Jul 3, 2007Fairy-Tale Authors' Adventures
Probably the least satisfying of Terry Gilliam's films that turns the real-life fairytale authors into scam ghost hunters in an adventure. Purportedly the subject of behind the scenes troubles, the film never quite comes to life on screen
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)
Sep 7, 2010Magical Circus/Deals with the Devil
This wouldn't be a Terry Gilliam if it wasn't cursed by bad luck - the death of star Heath Ledger. It's the most Gilliam-esque film in some years where Gilliam and his designers leap off into deliriously madcap surrealism
The Zero Theorem (2013)
Aug 3, 2014Dystopian Future/The Meaning of It All
This is Terry Gilliam largely going back to revisit Brazil, albeit having been updated to the 2010s and the era of the internet. A renaissance of many Gilliam themes, nevertheless this feels like one of his slighter works
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018)
Jun 15, 2019Delusionary Modern-Day Quest
This has been called the unluckiest film ever made - there is even an entire documentary devoted to the collapse of a prior version. Here Terry Gilliam's film about people on delusional quests finally emerges with the glory he always intended it to be