This movie seems to get a lot of love from fans and has gotten cult status but... for some reason i can't see the greatness that is Brazil (which i have heard a lot about). I have tried to watch it twice but both times i have quit. Can someone explain to me what's so great about it?
btw my first message board :)
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Yep that might be it :) and that also annoys me when people have they're opinion of the movie before they watch it and don't pay attention
shareI was somehow able to finish this movie, don't ask me how, I really thought it was pretty terrible. Perhaps I saw this movie too late and should have seen it sooner as it's so dated. I cringed at some parts like the redhead singing the mom's invitation or whatever. The "love" plot line was weak as was Jill.
shareit looks like *beep* haha
shareI depends on how much of a sci-fi fan you are and what year you were born. For me and anyone else who saw it on release is like the experience of reading a book vs the experience of reading an electronic book. Connections are made that will never arise with an electronic medium.
The state of the world was much different in that we all thought World War 3 was inevitable. I was living in San Diego, so I knew I'd be instantly screwed due to it's military presence. We wanted escapism in our media; something to distract us from the Cold War. I lived through 3 of the 5 cold wars. Being certain that you and everyone else don't really have a future is depressing.
That's the reason for 1980s media. Above all everything was about having HEART; Never give up and never say, "DIE"; Love will conquer all; Time heals all wounds. Much of the media was comprised of cautionary tales about a possible dark future. What really gets to me is that there are many things in sci-fi that we all agree would be a bad idea in real life. Now, today many dystopian trajectories are on our horizon.
I believe in a "Star Trek" future but I'm certain that we will stop by "Blade Runner" with a dash of "Brazil" along the way.
One more thing. I'm a science fiction artist from birth so literally know what I'm talking about. Check out my work.
http://www.mematron.newgrounds.com/art I'm not just talking about it I'm making it happen. Finally, someone who's not full of it ;)
Yeah kind of the same goes for Bladerunner. That and Brazil are two of my favorites.
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https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BWr4GF67Anw
"I am I am I said I'm not myself. I'm not dead and......."
I don't see how so many people compare Brazil with Bladerunner.
Bladerunner clearly makes sense and has a clear premise. Brazil, while I love Terry Gilliam and most of his creations, is an over-long, over-produced bunch of gobbledegook.
I can't see how anyone can really enjoy it without watching it whilst tripping on acid.
I have little doubt the confusion and gobbledegook, the disorientation, and MAYBE even some of the frustration, is the medium being the message. The same was used, somewhat, in Twelve Monkeys. I think Gilliam learned to dial it down a little for that movie.
The device being you're supposed to be FEELING what the characters themselves are feeling. Bureaucracy, the runaway kind, is a confusing, distressing, frustrating, pointless exercise. It creates anxiety and a desire to repel it. I think Gilliam tries to build certain movies to elicit the same "stressors" in an audience. But if it's too repellent, he's missed the mark. For some, I think Brazil was too off-kilter.
I love serious sci-fi or even serious fantasy, I was born in 1982, and really love 80's low budget films, but this is a comedy that is not funny plain and simple... Two plus hours of this is hard to sit through.. I usually like my movies to at least make sense with a plot.
shareI usually like my movies to at least make sense with a plot.
True, strict plots aren`t always necessary, as my name is Badlands (which has a plot) but many Malick films are just art films with not much plot, I guess my beef with Brazil is that it`s a semi comedy, I can`t take comedies, unless their strictly comedies, not masked as sci-fi
shareEven as someone who don't like the entire product of Brazil, at the very least you should be able to appreciate the hard work put into the special effects, practical effects, the sets, the nightmarish aspects that's like something right out of a child's nightmare? Even if you don't understand or like the movie, there are some features that you have to admit are ingenious and great contributes to art in general. Even if I didn't like the movie, I'd absolutely adore its art.
shareill admit that i did like the scenes where he had angel like wings. I thought that was very poetic.
shareGood question Aron, I tried asking that same thing a few months back and the best answer I can tell you (from the lone fan who seemed knowledgeable) is that Brazil is a very broad satire on consumerism and bureaucracy. That's about it.
There's a ton of allusions to Orwell's 1984 and an obvious critique of totalitarianism, but I suspect after talking to some very argumentative fans that most people on IMDB calling Brazil a "masterpiece" have no idea who George Orwell is. So I suspect they mostly like it for the visuals and because Terry Gilliam made it. It certainly can't be the plot.
I admit, when I first started watching this I stopped about halfway through as well thinking it was mediocre. However, I put it on another time and finished it this time around and loved it. I suggest watching it fully at least once and if you can another time around. This might be the type of movie that might grow on you. I thought Rocky Horror Picture Show was a POS when I first saw it, but after multiple viewings I saw the charm and uniqueness it had.
shareThis is my favourite movie, and I'm convinced it was so even when I was watching it the first time. The general themes, the silly jokes, the tiny details, De Niro's ridiculous cameo but above all, the things that should not have been funny, but were. I really cannot explain why I love Brazil so much, except to say that every time I watch it, I understand it slightly differently, which is the sign of a great artwork.
shareI'm agree with u. I love movies and I try to watch all kinds of movies. While I love things like action sci fi, dramas, horror. Occasionally I try to broaden my horizons and watch different stuff like musicals or fantasy films. Things I don't watch a lot. And I tried to watch this. I really did. I just could not get through it. And that's very rare, usually no matter how much I dislike a film, I can get still get through it. But this film....it's just noise.
shareI'll declare an interest from the off - I'm a big fan of Brazil. But I do think part of its appeal is that it is such a brilliant a satirical response to Britain in 1984 (which did often feel like 1984 the novel). The IRA bombings, the second height of Thatcherism, the beareaucracy, the Cold War, the paranoia, and so on and so on. Certainly in my experience it was a bit hit with students for these reasons - and it made total sense and struck so many chords at that time and place, and has stuck with many of us till today. I genuinely think it took a transplanted American to look at the times and react. However, even being such a big fan, I can appreciate that in different times and context its impact and intent may not translate.
shareInteresting, I never thought about Brazil in that context. V for Vendetta is another response to Thatcherism in the 80s. Compare and contrast hehe :-)
shareSo bizarre that you should reply now. I work for a bureaucracy, you know, the big one. Only last week I was managing a situation that had escalated up to ministers where somebody was in line for a refund but had no bank account... felt oddly familiar.
I think V for Vendetta is an interesting comparison in the original comic it may well have been published with a cut out and keep neon sign reading "Satirical Response To Thatcherism". I like the film but do feel that disjointed from its time of original publication some of the intent was redundant (slight pun there).
I do think Brazil has lots of offer. Every civil servant I know who has watched it awkwardly laughs along in the same way musician do whilst watching Spinal Tap.
But, to me, at its heart, Brazil is a universal story of the pain of discovering the clash between the imagined (the ideal world that Sam projects at the end, and Dream Jill) and the real (the 'real world' of Brazil and the real Jill to whom something terrible happened, twice according to the records).