<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3D9vwZ_0vfZl4TK00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3D9vwZ_0vfZl4TK00" width="1140" height="570" ><figcaption>Custom Image by Nimesh Niyomal</figcaption></figure>There always seemed to exist two sides to Robin Williams, at least when it came to the types of characters he played. There was the manic, zany, energetic version who could launch into an impersonation at a moment's notice, and the shy, sensitive introvert whose eyes betrayed a deep loneliness and pain. Although he would branch out from these two personas from time to time, Williams tended to stick to one or the other in his movie roles. However, there was at least one film that gave him the opportunity to show off the full range of his unique talents: The Fisher King. <h2>What Is 'The Fisher King' About? </h2>Jeff Bridges plays Jack Lucas, a New York shock jock whose life falls apart when an offhand comment causes an unstable caller to commit a mass shooting. Living with his girlfriend, Anne (Mercedes Ruehl), above the video store she operates, he goes on a bender one night and is attacked by two teens who mistake him for a homeless person. His life is saved by Parry (Williams), a delusional homeless man who believes he's a knight on a mythical quest to find the Holy Grail. Jack discovers that Parry is actually Henry Sagan, a former college professor who had a psychotic break when his wife was killed by the same caller he inadvertently provoked. He tries to make amends by helping Parry win the heart of Lydia (Amanda Plummer), a shy introvert he's fallen in love with. Things seem to be going well until Parry sees The Red Knight, an imaginary adversary whose presence caused him to fall into a coma. Jack awakens Parry by finding the grail, which is hidden in a billionaire's mansion on the Upper East Side.The Fisher King was directed by Terry Gilliam, a Monty Python alum who launched his solo directorial career with the eccentric Dark Ages comedy Jabberwocky. It was a change of pace for the filmmaker, who was known for creating wildly imaginative worlds (at great financial cost) in films like Time Bandits, Brazil, and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Yet contemporary New York City is rendered with as much creativity as the sci-fi and fantasy settings of his previous movies. Gilliam has never been known for subtlety (his taste for exaggeration and bombast grew out of his background as a comedian and cartoonist) and Williams is a perfect match for his gonzo style. Yet what's most surprising about The Fisher King is how much humanity is found within its fantastical elements, and that's where Williams really shines. In many ways, the role of Parry revealed the anger and sadness that was always lurking beneath the laughter that made him famous.<h2>Parry's Flights of Fancy Are Fueled by Trauma </h2>When we first meet Parry, he's acting out his fantasies of being a brave knight, clad in a makeshift suit of armor and wielding a sword and shield found in the garbage. He rescues Jack and takes him to his basement home, regaling him with tales of the Red Knight, imaginary flying fat fairies, and his quest for the grail. Parry's obviously delusional, but in a way that's fun and, somehow, kind of charming. As he drags his new companion around New York City, Jack grows to like him, and even tries to help get him back on his feet. In these scenes, Williams is given the chance to riff in a way that's reminiscent of his performances in Mrs. Doubtfire and Aladdin. Parry shouts, does funny voices, and goes on improvisational flights of fancy that make it seem as if he's doing a stand-up routine rather than interacting with another person.Yet as Parry makes attempts to rejoin society, his antics start to subside, and Williams shows the quieter side seen in Dead Poets Society and his Oscar-winning work in Good Will Hunting. When he's around Lydia, Parry is sweet, sensitive, and honest, willing to open himself up again for the first time since his wife was killed. It becomes clear that his high jinks aren't necessarily a function of his mental illness, but rather a means to avoid dealing with his trauma. This becomes clear when the Red Knight appears after his first date with Lydia, as he flashes back to the night his life fell apart. The Red Knight is a metaphorical representation of Parry's grief, made real in his mind, and it's come to prevent him from healing.<h2>'The Fisher King' Was the Best of What Robin Williams Could Do </h2>After a successful stand-up career, Williams became famous as a television star, playing an eccentric extraterrestrial in the sitcom Mork &amp; Mindy (a spin-off of Happy Days, in which he first made a memorable appearance as the character). That role cemented his comedic persona, and his subsequent movie career was spent trying to break out of that mold. Each film showed off a different facet of his talents: his first starring role in Popeye displayed his ability to create broad comedic caricatures; Good Morning, Vietnam proved he could lend his hyperactive, improvisational humor to dramatic roles; Awakenings showed he was just as adept at playing sad as he was at playing happy; in The Birdcage, he brought compassion and empathy to what could easily have been a broad stereotype; and in both Insomnia and One Hour Photo, he twisted his friendly persona into something far more sinister.What's extraordinary about The Fisher King, for which Williams earned an Oscar nomination as Best Actor, is that it somehow encompasses all the facets of his talents into one role. Parry is both a broad caricature and a deeply empathetic, fully realized person: he's given to moments of comedic invention and moments of deep depression; he's angry and sad about the loss of his wife, yet also filled with hope and wonderment. A role demanding so much could have easily crumbled in the hands of a lesser performer. In Williams' hands, it became a career-definer.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2lhOxy_0vfZl4TK00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2lhOxy_0vfZl4TK00" width="960" height="1440" ></figure>The Fisher King is available to watch on Prime Video in the U.S.</div></body>

Mountain View, CA

NewsBreak

No Robin Williams Movie Better Captures Everything He Was and Everything He Could Do

There always seemed to exist two sides to Robin Williams, at least when it came to the types of characters he played. There was the manic, zany, energetic version who could launch into an impersonation at a moment's notice, and the shy, sensitive introvert whose eyes betrayed a deep loneliness and pain. Although he would branch out from these two personas from time to time, Williams tended to stick to one or the other in his movie roles. However, there was at least one film that gave him the opportunity to show off the full range of his unique talents: The Fisher King.