Watch: Terry Gilliam's Award Winning 20 Minute Short Film 'The Wholly Family'

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by Kevin Jagernauth
January 5, 2013 10:49 AM
5 Comments

The last we heard about Terry Gilliam's 20-minute short film "The Wholly Family" was well over a year ago, when it took home Best Short Film at the European Film Awards. Not bad at all for a movie that got its start as a project sponsored by the pasta company Garofalo as part of an annual series of films about Naples. Well, Gilliam took that basic premise, ran with it, and now you can finally watch it.

After doing a brief festival circuit run (mostly in Europe), and being available to stream (again, mostly in Europe) those of us stateside can finally sit down with the movie, as it has wormed its way online. Penned by Gilliam, the film stars Cristiana Capotondi, Douglas Dean, Nicolas Connolly and Sergio Solli in a typically fantastical story where a visit to a market winds up leading a kid into the kind of dream world that the director has practically trademarked at this point.

Here's the official synopsis, followed by the film:

A crowded street in Naples city center, plenty of shops selling presepi. A wealthy American couple and Jake, their 10 years-old child, try to push their way through the crowd. While husband and wife argue which street to take, the boy is unwillingly separated from them.

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5 Comments

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]|||[ | January 7, 2013 6:23 PMReply

Whoever wrote the "official synopsis" neither watched the film nor knows what "synopsis" means.
Enetto Vicina | January 6, 2013 10:50 PMReply

Brava. A very satisfying and well made appetizer before the anticipated entree of The Zero Theorem this Fall. Truly terrible?? Guess that's why it won Best Short Film at EFA. By the way, the online box office for Scary Movie 5, Anchorman 2, and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters called. They said your pre-sale tickets are ready for pick up.
Vashti | January 5, 2013 6:56 PMReply

Nice. Love Gilliam. Hope Zero Theorem is a big comeback.
Ian Peterson | January 5, 2013 2:18 PMReply

Gilliam is my hero but this was truly terrible. Acting is awful and the premise as well the execution is amateurish. It feels like a student film material (no disrespect to some amazing student films we've seen over the years). It seems that the steady decline in his work is continuing. Hope he can reverse that trend soon...
Smoop | January 6, 2013 9:06 AM

Agree on all counts. This is painful... continuing the already lengthy demise of what used to be an incredible talent.