Well, since you say so, Stef...

Saw this one for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Still having a hard time putting my finger on it. I think I liked it—so much so that it might end up as my favorite first viewing for the month. So why can't I say I loved it? It's definitely one of the more creative films I've seen in a while. Loved the look of it (even the kind of cheezy superhero fantasy moments). Liked Sam and felt I could relate to him. But man, this film has me in a haze...so much so that it's hard to discuss, at least until I see it again.

With that being said, I know there are lots of fans here. So feel free to use this thread to convince Stef to watch it, if you'd like.

Hee hee.

Well, I hope you'll be watching the long version. I think it's like 2 hours 17 minutes. I'm a bit confused about all that. I've heard about a version that's even longer. Just stay away from the so-called "Love Conquers All" short version (maybe 90 minutes or so).

See, Stef, all it took was your (ahem) gentle prompting. Seriously, though, I should have brought this up sooner and probably wouldn't have if not for all the avatar confusion. I look forward to your thoughts. But who knows? I hope you don't sit through the long version and find your suspicions confirmed.

WOW! Best one line description I've ever read or heard. IMO, best Gilliam from an aesthetic POV. I usually find him jumbled and Pollokesque (throw it all up there, let's see what sticks) so maybe I might not like the long version, I don't know. Gee Stef, this film has your name on it, metaphorically.

I can see why there might be fog, but nothing like my first experience of Bunuel's The Discreet Charm of the Bourgoisie. I didn't know where I was after walking out of the theater. My date had to remember where my car was.

Hey. If it really was Ebert, share the email!

That's great, Rich!

A few random thoughts on Brazil:



Shoe-shaped hats are a unique fashion statement.

De Niro's pipe switcheroo: Oh man, that's got to be one of the grossest, strangest onscreen deaths ever.

I'm glad I have my own desk at work and don't have to share it with someone on the other side of the wall.

Drowning in paperwork: If my work ever does me in, that's how I'm gonna go.

Plastic surgery: Not such a good thing.

Poor girl who's mother wanted to set her up with Sam: I wore a headgear, too, when I was young. But never in public. Thank God.

So, was Bilbo...er Ian Holm...guilty of betraying Sam, too? Or did he just help get Sam even further in over his head? I think I got a little lost on who worked for who and what department was what. I think Holm liked Sam a lot, enough to call on him for help and overlook his goofing off at work (loved those films the employees watched on the sly!), but IIRC, he was using Sam to do his dirty work in paying off that woman who's husband was accidentally arrested and died as a result. Or, wait, what was going on there? I certainly felt that Holm's character was shifty, but Sam's real trouble didn't start until he switched departments against Holm's wishes, right?

Was Jill a terrorist?!

Oh boy, I'm going to have to look into fitting in another viewing ASAP.

Whaay thank ya Ma'am.
Yeah, me too.

True, true! I'd second that recommendation to see it. Welles' best, imho.

And I should have given more options in my poll. Masterpiece to mediocre is a mighty big jump. But oh well. My vote stands.

But Stef's been too busy watching Man on Fire.

Oh Stef, please forgive me. I couldn't resist.

Doug, you had me at "Welles." I'll have to look into tracking it down. Thanks for the tip!

$00.50 more than the price of the ticket?

Yes, more options. Definitely more options.

I'll add them when I find out how. I don't see an edit button next to my poll. I'll ask Alan.

Yes, it's hard not to like a movie where the director personally dubs 11 of the speaking parts.

It's on a good DVD by Milestone and several bad ones in the public domain.

Have I mentioned, ever, that The Trial is my favorite Welles film?

(ducks)

Okay, seems I cannot add options to my poll. Too bad. Next time, I'll be more thoughtful and less hasty.

So, asher, would any of these options apply? If not, feel free to add your own category.

A. Definitely a great film, but I wouldn't call it a masterpiece.

B. It's good, but that's all I can say about it.

C. Some great moments, but they're few and far between.

D. Only worth watching if it's the only film left on your rental store's shelves. And even then, you might want to think twice.

F. Run! Run for your life!

What about Fritz Lang's Metropolis?

Where does one (in Canada) locate a copy of this Milestone edition?

This is good Asher, it seems like Metropolis at times features the same sort of comedy that Brazil does. I can't ever get over the scene where she is dancing and the guys are drooling and panting. There is something truly Gilliam about that.

There is NO WAY Stef is going to be silent. He couldn't be silent a minute, muchless a summer.

If one cannot vote twice I didn't imagine one would be able to add options.

I think this is a good selection list. It allows for a more full spectrum of selections.

I originally saw it in proximity to 1984 and to this day I sometimes confuse them. I almost agree with your assessment of Gilliam. I think Brazil is his best.

...made me LOL pretty hard. I think i've had some days like that at work, too.

It's worth pointing out that the movie was made something like twenty years ago, and for those scenes of plastic surgery to now become so real is really quite scary in a prophetic kind of way. Shows like "The Swan" now capitalize on what was, in this film just a great, sad gimmick. And American culture, at least how it's perceived and projected in the media, has come to the point where many have mindsets that are exactly like those two old ladies.

The computers, too, really seemed prophetic, as if Gilliam understood exactly where society was headed -- that every worker in every room was going to need one of these things just to survive even the workplace experience alone. One of the lasting images that has stayed with me after my first screening was somewhere toward the beginning of the film when Lowry was peering into his monitor, and from behind the monitor we got to see his giant, distorted eye. It was really quite a fantastic shot, and when you think about it you have we, the audience, viewing a man staring through a screen into us. As if image and technology were the only real substantial element between us and Lowry at that point.

Along the same prophetic lines... and this is from some of the notes i wrote down while watching last night... was the fact that technology itself is almost worshiped like Babel or something, as if man's accomplishment were found in these physical technological accomplishments, and yet, in Gillimam's world, only half of them actually seem to work right, from the burnt toast to the elevator to the ducts, etc. This, too, feels a lot like my world. From the oven to the refrigerator to the car to the can opener, nothing irritates me more than a product that doesn't work right. It's a constant reminder of man's inability on the earth.

Does anyone know Gilliam's political persuasion? Because some of the story did seem to be hinting at a kind of political statement or a social commentary. But then again, with the characters made up like Monty Python characters, it's hard to catch on to what the commentary might be getting at. It's hard to receive a moral from a fantasy-indulged caricature.

Or is it, as a professor recently pointed out, that through sarcasm the best points are truly made? That sarcasm is a great way to make an unfavorable critical statement and still have the majority give your message a fair shake. Maybe i'm not catching onto something that's a whole lot deeper, and Gilliam is using biting wit which flies over the head of some people (maybe me)?

Two lingering images, that have come to mind since viewing: The sign that was carried, i believe in a shopping mall that read "Consumers For Christ!" HA! That one was not only prophetic of the direction this country has taken with the Christmas holiday over the last twenty years, but it was just plain funny to see... Oh, and the image of the guy with a bottle that peeked in over the top of the city that Lowry was supposedly driving through. That caught us in a state of suspension -- for a moment there i really did think that Lowry, car and all, were about to get eaten by a 300 foot drunken bum. That would be so Gilliamish.

-s.