Brazil
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Movie Reviews of Brazil
Movie Review: Not a Genre film
Summary: 5 Stars
Reading through the reviews here, I have a hard time finding a single one that fits the film at all. Some of them were looking for an action based science fiction film like The Matrix or The Minority Report. Others were looking for a screwball comedy (this is directed by a Python after all) If that is what you want, then this film is not for you.
Brazil is catagorized as black comedy. That makes it a sort of elaborate inside joke that takes a bit of thought.
Brazil is not an action film by any stretch of the imagination.
It is a satirical 20th century world view on a bazaar imagination. I'll actually admit here that it isn't the same kind of funny as Monty Python. But it does share a satiracal note with Python works- if you think long enough you will realize just how familiar this science fiction world is.
So, I'll try digging for a proper comparison. Fans of other Terry Guilliam works will like this film(12 Monkeys, Time Bandits) People who I know who liked this film are fans of the works of Stanely Kubrick (Dr. Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange) Many also love the works of Fritz Lang (Metropolis, M) and the rather less known science fiction film Pi.
Or people who love reading Franz Kafka. In Fact, I'd say that Kafka is the best comparison I can make, hands down, and highly recommend his complete works (which I'm still reading).
Be warned, this is one of cinema's strangest. That is why it defies catagorization so entirely. That is likely why there are people who love or hate this film so quickly. I rank it highly, but still have difficulty explaining it.
Movie Review: Absurdity meets Dry Humor + No Good Deed Goes Unpunished!
Summary: 5 Stars
Terry Gilliam has worked a truely an imaginative tragi-comedy. This is a film that will go around your expectations and show you something completely unique (I've avoided at all cost saying something "completely different"). Enter a world where you have to fill out a form to get a form to fill out...in triplicate. Big government where the left hand doesn't know the right hand exists...
San Lowry is a bureaucrat-drone with a tiny automated apartment, a distant mother who enjoys recreational plastic surgery and a never-ending flow of paper to push around the desk he shares --through a wall--with another bureaucrat. You have to see it to believe it. Sam adds some exitement to his humdrum life by imagining fantastic light-infused scenes starring a winged hero--perhaps human potential, his own evaporating opportunities as he ages, or...perhaps someone he has met.
While going through the efforts to correct a simple mistake which apparently cost a meek family man his life, Sam rubs elbows with a skillful cultural terrorist who delights in sticking it to the system. It doesn't take long for Sam to become mixed up in events he's really not too sure about. Throughout he seems an average guy who can't really figure out whether he's here or there, and through attempting to make right for his bureaucracy, becomes a victim of it. But a least he finds love too!
This is not a simple clean tale with an easy ending, you do have to think. Worth seeing for the lavish imagination scenes alone. Dry humor meets absurdity. Welcome to Sam Lowry's world.
Movie Review: Brazil, my favorite movie
Summary: 5 Stars
I saw this movie in the theater when it came out in the 80's. I was visiting friends, when they said, "We're going to a movie, want to come?". I said, "Sure". After all, they knew something about me, and i trusted that they'd know what I'd like. In the car, they said it's called "Brazil". Fortunately, this doesn't give anything away. It's the title of the theme song. It's not what the song is about. It's not what the main screen writer and director Terry Gilliam thought the song is about. For all intents and purposes, it has nothing to do with the movie. And, they said that it's directed by Terry Gilliam. I didn't catch the reference. Maybe it was because movie directors isn't one of my big interests.
Just before it was released, the movie was presented to a group of film critics. This group votes on the year's 10 best and 10 worst movies. Brazil was voted the #1 best movie, and significantly, the #1 worst movie. That is to say, everyone had a strong opinion about it. You'll either love it (as i do), or hate it. I've not seen it at the video store for rent. But there's a good chance you'll love it and want to see it dozens of times. So my advice is this: buy it. If you hate it, put it up on eBay. Or, since it's cheap, just keep it.
There. I've told you everything you should know about it before watching it. Especially if you don't know who Terry is. Have fun with it.
Movie Review: This is the long version, and the shorter version is better
Summary: 5 Stars
Brazil was originally released in two versions: the 142 minute European theatrical cut, and the 131 minute American theatrical cut. Terry Gilliam approved both. Then there was the 94 minute "Love Conquers All" version shown on American television, which everyone agrees is dreadful. Brazil is one of my favorite films. I've seen the 131 minute cut about ten times, and the Criterion "director's cut", which is closely based on the European theatrical cut, two or three times, and I think the shorter version is better. We should learn from George Lucas that it is not necessarily good for the director to get everything he wants. The stuff added to the long cut is not that good, not necessary for the plot, and drags down the pacing. Another difference is that in the shorter cut, in the final shot, Sam is surrounded by clouds. It doesn't change the story but I think it's a better presentation of the ending. And there's one bit that's only in the shorter version: when Jim Broadbent slaps the plastic over Katherine Helmond's face, Sam says (ironically) "My God, it works."
The item description says that the 1998 DVD is 131 minutes (or 132). This is incorrect. All DVD's are the long version, although the 1998 stand-alone DVD might be slightly different from the one in the Criterion collection. The 131 minute version was released only on VHS and videodisc.
Movie Review: A Surrealistic Masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
"Brazil" isn't one of those movies that you understand in one viewing. It isn't simple and dumbed down so that you see it once, go "I understand!" and forget about it. Terry Gilliam has crafted a wonderfully intricate and surreal film that is a joy to see every time you watch it. As stated before, you have to pay very close attention to this, or else you'll miss a very important part. You don't blank out and jus watch the pretty moving pictures (although they are incredablly stunning, especially Sam's dreams). The part that most threw people off was the end, and already ruined by most reviewers, where *spoiler* Sam escapes the Torture Chamber through his fantasy. In other words, he escapes by going insane. "Brazil" can be interpeted in many ways. I think it could be intepeted as Sam Lowery's rise and fall (though Gilliam has said "Brazil" was more about the beurocratic goverment where you sacrifice personal individuality for security and how it goes about squashing Sam's quest for his freedom). Sam loses his innocence when he transferrs to Information Retrieval and recklessly goes about finding his dream girl. His recklessness, however, shows how free he is, not caring about consequences. Anyway, "Brazil" is a beautiful, surreal, and certaintly complex film.