Honour of the Knights Reviews

Is this art or a waste of money?

The Don and Sancho wander around in picturesque Catalonian countryside. They walk a bit, talk a bit, sleep a bit and swim a bit and that's the whole film.

Only for hard core art film buffs or students of the Catalan language.

Yes, it is Art, and no, it is not a waste of money.

The Don and Sancho wander around in picturesque Catalonian countryside. They walk a bit, talk a bit, sleep a bit and swim a bit and that's the whole film.

For hardcore art buffs and students of the Catalan language.

Oh, and everyone else.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Kudos to Soda Pictures for picking up this little gem

Albert Serra's stunning re-interpretation of Don Quixote is, as other reviewers have noted, an intensely minimalist piece. There's no action here, not in the swashbuckling sense of the word, but a little Sancho-esque patience with Serra's subtle stylisation (long takes, handheld camerawork, etc.) will be rewarded with a truly unique cinematic experience.

Scenes of Quixote bathing in a natural swimming pool, his frail body swaying in the heavy hilltop winds, or his gentle discourses on God's creation portray above all his profound sensitivity to the natural environment - a beautifully realised Catalan summer landscape. I cannot even begin to comprehend the technical genius that it took to photograph this with the Sony PD150 - the same camera used on Lynch's 'Inland Empire' - which here shows a remarkable sensitivity to natural light and is more classically picturesque than many 35mm films.

Quixote and Sancho are bathed in a natural mystery here, and one that reflects even more mysteriously as an adaptation of Cervantes' vision - as Quixote screams for his enemies, are we to take this purely as a delusional fantasy? Or are we witnessing something like Quixote's 'Last Days' - as evidenced by his melancholy meditations on death, and leaving Sancho behind..? Wisely and evocatively, we never get a definitive answer, but as the film slowly envelops them in a final darkness, its enigmatic power left me truly amazed.

How to make a file for less than £100

Acting required: Nil

Costumes required: Very little

Looks like it was made in the local park with a camcorder.

Did the people who gave it awards actually watch it?

Contains spoiler? Nothing in the film to spoil.

One of the worst films i've seen in nearly 60 years

[Highly rated reviewer]

amatuerish trite masquerading as art

I've seen plenty of slow moving films where nothing much happens and seen the beauty that the director was aiming for, this is not one of them. The actors must be amatuers as they seem to have difficulty making any facial expressions, the photography is of the vainest kind aiming for meanings that it doesn't reach, if there was any direction involved I failed to see it and the longeurs are just boring and after waiting for some sort of connection with the film after 40 minutes I gave up. How do you say the Emporers got no clothes on in catalan ?

LIKE WATCHING PAINT DRY

This movie was so slow we watched it at twice the speed and it was still excruicatingly slow. Endless pauses .... absolutely awful