I saw it for the first time a couple of days back. I thought it was terrific and one of the very best films I have ever seen.
It was excellent in many ways but I especially liked the visual details that Gilliam put in : the posters, the ubiquitous ducts, the tiny monitors with magnifying lenses . Also some great cameo performances by Robert de Niro, Bob Hoskins et al. And some great lines eg.: “My complication had a little complication”
I was especially impressed because I was expecting something like the Python films which I liked but also found rather gimmicky. Clearly Brazil had much higher production values and better acting but also a more coherent story with multiple themes which are developed consistently through the film. Much more satisfying than the Python films.
I also liked that the Gilliam version didn’t cop out from the tough issues it raised (unlike , say, Minority Report) and didn’t shy from a downbeat ending. The ending of the “Love conquers all” version was ,of course, ridiculous and didn’t even make sense on its terms: for instance (as noted in the commentary) it includes the scene where Tuttle gets swallowed by paper. It was a rather illuminating example of Hollywood idiocy.
I saw this almost 20 years ago and it was a wild comedy with touches of tragedy. I watch it now and it’s a dark tragedy with touches of comedy. Always a feast for the eyes, though.
I loved the casting of Michael Palin as Sam’s friend and torturer. Such a genial fellow.
Re: De Niro – Try to imagine the surprise of seeing the star of “The Godfather Part II,” “Taxi Driver” and “Raging Bull” in a semi-comedic cameo in a quirky British film. This was long before “Analyze This”, “Meet the Parents” or “Rocky and Bullwinkle”.
Brazil is an amazing movie. This is a movie that go back to every few years and watch again. ( I once had an office like his ) I am a great fan of Gilliam’s movies. The Fisher King, 12 Monkeys, and Fear And Loating In Las Vegas were brilliant as well.
I really enjoy films that mix comedy & pathos, and Brazil is one of my favourites too.
I love the automated apartment at the start, where it tries to make him toast and coffee and the toast-maker DOINGGGs the toast into the coffee mug, and then the coffee dispenser swivels over and soaks the toast in coffee. So symbolic of what’s to come in the rest of the film: a crappy system that pretends to make things better when it’s actually making things worse.
When I was 18, I dated the Unbelievably Cute Girl the first time - took her to dinner. Got an auld snog at the end of the evening. Great! Got a second date.
Second date: took UCG to a pub for the evening. Took her home. Got another snog! Wicked. “Next time I’ll try a bit more”, thinks I.
Third date: Why not take UCG to a movie? How about this new movie Brazil… After the movie: silence. Depression. Angst. No snog. She broke up with me a week later.
Conclusion: great movie, but don’t bring Unbelieveably Cute Girls to it on dates.
Still, a fabulous movie. And it’s great to see a film combine equal parts suffering and satire, so that at the end, you don’t know whether to be sad or amused.
In “Gilliam on Gilliam” he explains that everybody was in awe of Deniro who went on to do many many takes of each scene. Poor Jonahtan Pryce had to lay his head in the refrigerator 20 times. This did not ingratiate him to the other actors. In the end, though, Deniro used his influence to push for the movie when it needed it.
So many favorite scenes. Palin in his office while his daughter plays on the floor. The scene with Sam wrestling with the shared desk. The men handing the receipt to Mrs. Buttle and trying to put the “hole” back in the ceiling.
I love that Gilliam’s films all have multiple endings.
If you really like this movie, see if you can find a copy of The Battle of Brazil by Jack Matthews. It describes the struggle to get the movie made (including some dream sequences that had to be cut for budgetary reasons) and then the all-out war to get it released. There’s the full text of the screenplay, too.
I’d love to get my hands on the critereon Edition with each of the versions. I love this film, there is so much going on that multiple viewings are necessary to cath the subtle nuances in the background and in the performences.
I have a copy of the “Directors cut” from Universal… I’d love to see the “Love Conquers all” version to see how badly they tried to butcher this film.
Actually there is a copy of the Matthews documentary on the Criterion DVD that I rented and it was fascinating stuff. I did feel some sympathy for the studio executives who were right that the Gilliam cut wasn’t going to succeed at the boxoffice. However the “Love conquers all” version was just ludicrous and I suspect it would have made even less money especially in the long run.
I have a friend that absolutely refuses to acknowledge the oedipal subtext in Brazil. His eyes narrow and he starts to fidget. It’s really quite endearing.
I second Robot Arm’s recommendation of The Battle of Brazil. I wish that the budget had room for the originally-conceived title sequence which explains both how the fateful fly came to be in the office and why the movie is called ‘Brazil’, ferchrissakes.
Hmmm, jjimm, while unbelievably Cute Girls might not appreciate Brazil, striking girls (hey, I’m tall, slim, and redhaired - cute doesn’t work on me) have been known to use appreciation of Brazil as a filtering tool to determine if a date has an appropriately dark sense of humour.
I went out on a first date in 1985 to see this movie with a guy who was a co-op university student at IBM like I was at the time. He said he didn’t get the movie … that’s not all he didn’t get! Not even a second date.
Gee… at the most basic level of the movie, with all the bureaucracy and technology in the movie, you’ld think someone working at IBM would have SOME appreciation of the movie.
When I was in college, Terry brought the film to campus for a free screening and lecture. He sat on the stage for the first half hour or so and answered questions. He explained that the studio wanted to change things around and how he was going to show “his version”. The studio wouldn’t let him. He kept having to run to the projection room to talk to somebody on the phone. Argueing with the studio head, he was.
I went to the bathroom while he was on the phone, and while standing around in the lobby, he came down the stairs and started to chat with me! He was cool! I asked him for his autograph, and he obliged and even did a little impromptu sketch for me. It was one of his wacky animal creations with a pencil for a nose. It looked like the drawing had done the autograph. Really neat!
Seems like a great guy, but I didn’t think Brazil was all that hot when I finally got to see it. (He wasn’t allowed to screen his film for us that day)
Got Grahm Chapman’s autograph at college, too. Still need a few to complete the set.
Marvellous movie, but I’d disagree that it’s downbeat at the end. 'Far as Sam’s concerned, Love has Conquered All. I always thought it was an oddly-twisted happy ending.
If you go to www.imdb.com and look up the crazy credits for Brazil, you will find the following:
Sidney Sheinberg’s name is listed in the credits next to Worst Boy. Terry Gilliam and Sheinberg fought notoriously over the content and release of the film.
DeNiro wanted to star in the movie, but Gilliam had written the role with Pryce inmind. Undaunted, DeNiro took the rogue repairman’s role just to be able to be a part of the fim.
I liked the weird mix of old and new technology. This was “borrowed” for use in Max Headroom.
) I am a great fan of Gilliam’s movies. The Fisher King, 12 Monkeys, and Fear And Loating In Las Vegas were brilliant as well.
Not even a second date.