Brazil (1985)
Dark comedy from the mind of Terry Gilliam today staring Jonathan Pryce, Kim Greist, Michael Palin, Robert De Niro, Bob Hoskins and Ian Holm. When a dead fly falls into a printer at the ministry of information it ends up causing mayhem.
Like most of Gilliam's films this should stand out as one of his cannon from a mile off with themes of imagination and a crazy back drop. The world that Brazil is set in is really great with a sort of retro-future look inspired by 40s film noir and bureaucracy gone crazy. There are also some great imagination sequences involving the hero trying to save his dream girl (who happens to be a lorry driver). It is no surprise that this film was nominated for an Oscar for best art direction.
The plot itself is a dystopian satire and works really well even if it does seem that the film stretches a little too long. There is more than one cut of this film, originally the studio tried to force a “happy ending” cut for release in the US which defeats the whole tone of the film really. It is also interesting how a lot of the films elements foreshadow problems that the director would be soon to encounter with Hollywood on this project and others.
5/5 classic Gilliam crazy.
No comments:
Post a Comment