A Liar's Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman (Jones)

A Liar's Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman
Directors: Bill Jones, Jeff Simpson, and Ben Timlett

IMDb page

http://i.imgur.com/B0rlc.jpg

What the fuck? I had no idea this existed. That's bloody awesome!

I was wondering when this was coming out since it got pulled from Cannes! If it comes to my area, I'm seeing it for sure!

This only played in Toronto for two weeks, luckily I was able to make time to catch it.

It's good, not great. A delight to hear the Chapman recordings, though it feels a tad long and overdrawn, even at its relatively brief running time. The last fifteen minutes just crawled, though that could be in part due to my physical state (I was tired from work, and while I didn't fall alseep like I have the last couple times I went to the movies - had to see Samsara twice because I slept through it the first lime, lol - I was kinda thinking I should during that final stretch of the film).

My reaction is a bit conflicted, then, since the star of the show is easily the animation itself. It's varied in style, and full of surprises, and yet somehow feels cohesive the entire way through. It's playful and charming, and always in service of the story Chapman is narrating. But it just as often trumps Chapman's story, too; and with Monty Python referenced in the title and used to sell the film (and its members have all participated in the film), it seems strange that the film's best qualities have nothing to do at all with Python's legacy (it even seemed a bit of a missed opportunity that, with all the different animation styles on display, they never showcase anything in the style of Gilliam's Python work).

Anyways, certainly recommended for Python fans to hear Chapman's recordings, but also recommended to animation fans in general as an entertaining and creative flight of fancy.