Slideshow
Terry Gilliam’s
BRAZIL
Friday, August 1 – Thursday, August 7
US THEATRICAL PREMIERE OF NEW 4K RESTORATION
OF THE REVISED DIRECTOR’S CUT (1999)
AND SELECT SCREENINGS OF ORIGINAL DIRECTOR’S CUT (1985) IN 35mm
U.K, U.S., 1985
Directed by Terry Gilliam
Starring Jonathan Pryce, Robert De Niro, Kim Greist, Michael Palin, Katherine Helmond,
Bob Hoskins, Ian Holm
Approx. 142 mins. 35mm/4K DCP.
As those endlessly coiling serpentine ducts proliferate — seemingly beyond the power of even Central Services to control — and the omnipresent Information Service-policed towering city of the future, studiously ambitious file clerk Sam Lowery (Jonathan Pryce of Miss Saigon and Lexus TV commercial fame) finds a literal flyspeck leading to apocalyptic bureaucratic foul-ups and a desperate search for the girl of his literal dreams.
BRAZIL is Monty Python alumnus Terry Gilliam's (12 MONKEYS, FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS) take on a decidedly low-tech 1984-ish society, distinguished by creepily film noir ambiance, amid gargantuan fascist modern architecture, sparked by samurai battles within airborne fantasy, all underscored by Python-esque black humor and the endless variations on that hypnotic title tune. With fellow Python alum Michael Palin at his most seriously slimy, Bob Hoskins as a ferocious repairman, Ian Holm (THE SWEET HEREAFTER) and Ian Richardson as nervous and high-powered (respectively) bureaucrats, and Robert De Niro as a heroic electrical engineer.
The film’s release marked the occasion of a memorable studio-auteur battle, recounted in Jack Matthews' The Battle of Brazil (Applause Books), topped by its designation as Best Picture of the Year by the Los Angeles Film Critics Circle before its premiere.
Reviews
“MONTY PYTHON MEETS GEORGE ORWELL, and it’s as clever, witty and subversive as that sounds.”
– The Guardian
“It's like a stoned, slapstick 1984: a nightmare comedy in which the comedy is just an aspect of the nightmarishness.”
– Pauline Kael, The New Yorker
“[A] darkly funny and truly visionary retro-futurist fantasy.”
– Joe Morgenstern, The Wall Street Journal
“Terry Gilliam's ferociously creative black comedy is filled with wild tonal contrasts, swarming details, and unfettered visual invention — every shot carries a charge of surprise and delight.”
– Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader