Brazil (Criterion #51).
1985 Universal Pictures.
Starring: Jonathan Pryce, Robert De Niro, Kim Greist, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Bob Hoskins, Michael Palin, Ian Richardson, Peter Vaughan, Jim Broadbent, Nigel Planer, Brian Miller
Director: Terry Gilliam
Available from Amazon as a single disc Criterion edition, a three disc Criterion box set, or as the simple, barebones Universal release.
Terry Gilliam's signature film was first conceived in the mid-1970s after he directed his first solo project, Jabberwocky. It took the success of 1981's Time Bandits for his vision to start becoming a reality. Brazil proved to be an endless headache during production and post-production for Gilliam, to the point where the director lost all feeling in his legs for a week due to stress, and found that his vocabulary had been reduced to just three choice obscenities. Once the film was completed, Gilliam started having problems with Universal, who was to release the movie in the United States (20th Century Fox handled distribution everywhere else; evidentally, they had no problems with the film's content). At first, Universal said the movie was too long, so Gilliam trimmed it by nine minutes. However, the studio's main objection with Brazil was the dark ending (which is in the eye of the beholder, honestly), and they wanted a typical Hollywood happy ending. Gilliam wouldn't listen, so Universal created the so-called "Love Conquers All" version of Brazil, which is included as a bonus on Criterion's three disc box set, and basically sat on the original film. Gilliam bickered publicly with then-Universal studio head Sid Sheinberg, even taking out an ad in Variety asking him when he would release the movie as he intended it to be released. It took Gilliam conducting private screenings without Universal's approval, and the subsequent critical success that prompted the studio to release Brazil...but they barely promoted it, and it turned out to be a flop at the box office. Sorry, Terry.
Anyway, Brazil is the story of low-level and content to be that way government employee Sam Lowry (Pryce), who often dreams of saving a beautiful maiden while flying through the air. He gets mixed up in a government critical error caused by a literal bug in the machinery, when a Mr. Archebald Buttle (Miller) is arrested and subsequently executed instead of the ministry's real target, the renegade air conditioning specialist Harry Tuttle (De Niro). When the meeting with Mrs. Buttle goes badly, Sam notices the Buttles' upstairs neighbor, Jill Layton (Greist), when she comes to check on the situation. Jill is the same woman as in his dreams. Jill is now considered a terrorist friend of Tuttle after she tried to report Buttle's wrongful arrest to the bureaucrats who would never admit they made a mistake. Initially, Jill does not open up to Sam, as she's worried the government will find her.
In the mean time, Sam meets Harry Tuttle, who fixes the air conditioning in his apartment much faster than the two government workers sent to handle the problem, and deals with his mother Ida (Helmond), who is addicted to rejuvenating plastic surgery, and who is frustrated with her son's lack of any real drive or ambition. Sam's best friend is one Jack Lint (Palin), who specializes in torturing "guests" of the government. Sam finds Jill's records, and alters them to show that she is deceased, allowing her to escape the ministry's persecution. They share a romantic evening together before Sam is arrested for misusing his position. With Tuttle's aid (Jill's fate is unclear; it depends on which version of the film you're watching!), Sam escapes into an increasingly surreal nightmare. Sam does manage to escape the city and the government along with Jill...
...ummm, no, he doesn't.
The real star of Brazil is the simultaneously futuristic and retrogressive world that Gilliam created, filled with many outrageous gadgets and everyday household items, with just as many classic references to a simpler past visable, often in the same scene (Sam has a fascination with older movies, like Casablanca). It's a truly unique vision of film well worth your time. Highly, highly, highly recommended!
Showing posts with label terry gilliam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label terry gilliam. Show all posts
Friday, June 12, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Dentist on the Job. 1961 Bertram Osterer Productions & Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors.
Starring: Bob Monkhouse, Ronnie Stevens, Kenneth Connor, Shirley Eaton, Richard Wattis, Charles Hawtrey, Arthur Mullard
Director: C.M. Pennington-Richards
Available at Amazon (Region 2 only!)
A 1961 British comedy in the vein of the Carry On films about a revolutionary type of toothpaste called Dreem, and...what? Hey, wait a second here!
I seem to be watching the wrong movie!
[One Moment Please]
Monty Python and the Holy Grail. 1975 Python (Monty) Pictures, released to DVD by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment.
Written by and starring: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin
Also starring: Connie Booth, Carol Cleveland, Neil Innes, John Young
Directors: Terry Gilliam & Terry Jones
Available at Amazon: Special Edition DVD, or the Extraordinarily Deluxe Three-Disc Edition.
Okay...enough has been written about Holy Grail that I can probably get away with not posting a brief synopsis about the film. You probably know the story: King Arthur (Chapman) travels through England recruiting knights in his quest to find the Holy Grail. You also probably know all of the best jokes and most memorable scenes by heart now, right?
* Coconuts.
* The airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?
* "Bring out your dead!"
* The Black Knight and his refusal to quit.
* The French Taunter.
* Run away! Run away!!
* A famous historian, and his death.
* Knights who say "ni!"
* Castle Anthrax.
* The Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog (yes, it has an official name).
* Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Film, who is represented by a picture of William Palin, Michael's son.
* The Legendary Black Beast of Aaaaarrrrrrggghhh, and the animator's fatal heart attack.
This is the movie that finally broke Monty Python in America (they had a cult following after Monty Python's Flying Circus was imported to PBS in the early '70s), and it's probably the only Python project that just about everyone and their mother can quote verbatim. I also feel this is still their funniest movie.
Holy Grail was also very difficult for the Pythons to make, as they were plagued by troublesome weather, subpar hotel accomodations, their own inexperience at producing their own feature film, two directors with different artistic visions, and Graham Chapman's alcoholism, which had yet to peak, but it was during the film's production that he realized that it was becoming a serious problem. Even the normally calm and relaxed Michael Palin lost his temper at one point during production, which took his fellow Pythons by surprise (Cleese found himself applauding after Palin finally calmed down).
Highly, highly recommended. Now, get on with it!
Starring: Bob Monkhouse, Ronnie Stevens, Kenneth Connor, Shirley Eaton, Richard Wattis, Charles Hawtrey, Arthur Mullard
Director: C.M. Pennington-Richards
Available at Amazon (Region 2 only!)
A 1961 British comedy in the vein of the Carry On films about a revolutionary type of toothpaste called Dreem, and...what? Hey, wait a second here!
I seem to be watching the wrong movie!
Monty Python and the Holy Grail. 1975 Python (Monty) Pictures, released to DVD by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment.
Written by and starring: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin
Also starring: Connie Booth, Carol Cleveland, Neil Innes, John Young
Directors: Terry Gilliam & Terry Jones
Available at Amazon: Special Edition DVD, or the Extraordinarily Deluxe Three-Disc Edition.
Okay...enough has been written about Holy Grail that I can probably get away with not posting a brief synopsis about the film. You probably know the story: King Arthur (Chapman) travels through England recruiting knights in his quest to find the Holy Grail. You also probably know all of the best jokes and most memorable scenes by heart now, right?
* Coconuts.
* The airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?
* "Bring out your dead!"
* The Black Knight and his refusal to quit.
* The French Taunter.
* Run away! Run away!!
* A famous historian, and his death.
* Knights who say "ni!"
* Castle Anthrax.
* The Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog (yes, it has an official name).
* Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Film, who is represented by a picture of William Palin, Michael's son.
* The Legendary Black Beast of Aaaaarrrrrrggghhh, and the animator's fatal heart attack.
This is the movie that finally broke Monty Python in America (they had a cult following after Monty Python's Flying Circus was imported to PBS in the early '70s), and it's probably the only Python project that just about everyone and their mother can quote verbatim. I also feel this is still their funniest movie.
Holy Grail was also very difficult for the Pythons to make, as they were plagued by troublesome weather, subpar hotel accomodations, their own inexperience at producing their own feature film, two directors with different artistic visions, and Graham Chapman's alcoholism, which had yet to peak, but it was during the film's production that he realized that it was becoming a serious problem. Even the normally calm and relaxed Michael Palin lost his temper at one point during production, which took his fellow Pythons by surprise (Cleese found himself applauding after Palin finally calmed down).
Highly, highly recommended. Now, get on with it!
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. 1983 Universal Pictures.
Written and performed by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin
Director: Terry Jones
The Crimson Permanent Assurance. 1983 Universal Pictures.
Featuring: Matt Frewer, Michael Palin, Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam (uncredited)
Director: Terry Gilliam
Available at Amazon: Single DVD. Two-disc special edition.
The final Python film is a return to the sketch format seen during their television days, and those sketches are following the progressing ages of a human life from conception to death. Reportedly, writing the film proved to be very hard until Eric Idle blurted out that the movie was about "the meaning of life" during a meeting. Terry Gilliam also did not want to contribute much animation aside from the opening credits, and he offered to direct one sketch, which evolved into The Crimson Permanent Assurance, and its production grew quite ambitious and elaborate. The sketch was cut from the main film and used as a supporting feature before it, although the sketch's participants did attempt to try to attack the main film halfway through. Gilliam justified his excesses by saying "Nobody told me to stop".
Anyway, a brief summary of the main film:
Part I: The Meaning of Birth, which features a woman in labor and the machine that goes PING!, followed by a poor Catholic family singing "Every Sperm is Sacred" before deciding how many children get sold for medical experiments.
Part II: Growing and Learning, where school children are subjected to a sexual education lesson, and the teacher (Cleese) gives a live demonstration with his wife (Patricia Quinn). A rugby match follows with students playing teachers, which segues into...
Part III: Fighting Each Other. Military themed sketches, where an officer (Jones) tries to rally his troops, but they insist on celebrating his birthday, complete with gifts and cakes. We next travel back to 1879 and the Anglo-Zulu War, where the British have been decimated in a Zulu attack, but the more pressing issue is an office has had his leg stolen during the night. A tiger is blamed, and two men in a tiger costume are quickly rounded up.
The Middle of the Film. Drag queens (Palin & Chapman), a playboy (Jones), and a man in blackface (Gilliam) interact with an elephant-headed butler. The famous fish also make an appearance.
Part IV: Middle Age, where an American couple vacationing at a bizarre resort order a conversation about "the meaning of life", but they send it back, since it's not very good.
Part V: Live Organ Transplants sees two paramedics showing up at the doorstep of an organ donor (Gilliam) wanting his liver. The donor is still alive, and refuses, so the paramedics kill him and take the organ "under condition of death". The man's wife is unsure when asked about donating her liver, so a man who lives in the refrigerator (Idle) comes out to sing the "Galaxy Song". The boys from the Crimson Permanent Assurance attack the main film, but they are dispatched by a skyscraper.
Part VI: The Autumn Years. Two words: Mr. Creosote. Three more words: wafer thin mint. This may be one of the most vile scenes ever made, but damn, it's funny! There's a brief discussion of racism after the cleanup, and a French waiter (Idle) leading the camera on a long walk to where he grew up, and that's where he delivers his philosophy on life, which degenerates into profanity.
Part VII: Death. First, a criminal (Chapman) convicted of making gratuitous sexist jokes in a movie is killed in the manner of his choosing: chased off a cliff by topless women. Next, the Grim Reaper (Cleese) visits an isolated house in the country where the dinner guests argue with him before they are persuaded to join him on the way to the afterlife, which is the resort from part four. We find out that in Heaven, every day is Christmas.
The End of the Film: One of the drag queens from the Middle (Palin) reads out the meaning of life ("It's nothing very special really!") before promising sexually graphic pictures to annoy the censors.
Highly recommended.
Written and performed by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin
Director: Terry Jones
The Crimson Permanent Assurance. 1983 Universal Pictures.
Featuring: Matt Frewer, Michael Palin, Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam (uncredited)
Director: Terry Gilliam
Available at Amazon: Single DVD. Two-disc special edition.
The final Python film is a return to the sketch format seen during their television days, and those sketches are following the progressing ages of a human life from conception to death. Reportedly, writing the film proved to be very hard until Eric Idle blurted out that the movie was about "the meaning of life" during a meeting. Terry Gilliam also did not want to contribute much animation aside from the opening credits, and he offered to direct one sketch, which evolved into The Crimson Permanent Assurance, and its production grew quite ambitious and elaborate. The sketch was cut from the main film and used as a supporting feature before it, although the sketch's participants did attempt to try to attack the main film halfway through. Gilliam justified his excesses by saying "Nobody told me to stop".
Anyway, a brief summary of the main film:
Part I: The Meaning of Birth, which features a woman in labor and the machine that goes PING!, followed by a poor Catholic family singing "Every Sperm is Sacred" before deciding how many children get sold for medical experiments.
Part II: Growing and Learning, where school children are subjected to a sexual education lesson, and the teacher (Cleese) gives a live demonstration with his wife (Patricia Quinn). A rugby match follows with students playing teachers, which segues into...
Part III: Fighting Each Other. Military themed sketches, where an officer (Jones) tries to rally his troops, but they insist on celebrating his birthday, complete with gifts and cakes. We next travel back to 1879 and the Anglo-Zulu War, where the British have been decimated in a Zulu attack, but the more pressing issue is an office has had his leg stolen during the night. A tiger is blamed, and two men in a tiger costume are quickly rounded up.
The Middle of the Film. Drag queens (Palin & Chapman), a playboy (Jones), and a man in blackface (Gilliam) interact with an elephant-headed butler. The famous fish also make an appearance.
Part IV: Middle Age, where an American couple vacationing at a bizarre resort order a conversation about "the meaning of life", but they send it back, since it's not very good.
Part V: Live Organ Transplants sees two paramedics showing up at the doorstep of an organ donor (Gilliam) wanting his liver. The donor is still alive, and refuses, so the paramedics kill him and take the organ "under condition of death". The man's wife is unsure when asked about donating her liver, so a man who lives in the refrigerator (Idle) comes out to sing the "Galaxy Song". The boys from the Crimson Permanent Assurance attack the main film, but they are dispatched by a skyscraper.
Part VI: The Autumn Years. Two words: Mr. Creosote. Three more words: wafer thin mint. This may be one of the most vile scenes ever made, but damn, it's funny! There's a brief discussion of racism after the cleanup, and a French waiter (Idle) leading the camera on a long walk to where he grew up, and that's where he delivers his philosophy on life, which degenerates into profanity.
Part VII: Death. First, a criminal (Chapman) convicted of making gratuitous sexist jokes in a movie is killed in the manner of his choosing: chased off a cliff by topless women. Next, the Grim Reaper (Cleese) visits an isolated house in the country where the dinner guests argue with him before they are persuaded to join him on the way to the afterlife, which is the resort from part four. We find out that in Heaven, every day is Christmas.
The End of the Film: One of the drag queens from the Middle (Palin) reads out the meaning of life ("It's nothing very special really!") before promising sexually graphic pictures to annoy the censors.
Highly recommended.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Time Bandits
Time Bandits (Criterion #37). 1981 HandMade Films.
Starring: John Cleese, Sean Connery, Shelley Duvall, Ralph Richardson, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Michael Palin, David Rappaport, Craig Warnock
Producers: Terry Gilliam, George Harrison, Denis O'Brien
Director: Terry Gilliam
Available at Amazon: Criterion edition, Non-Criterion edition.
After Terry Gilliam had success with Jabberwocky, and the two Monty Python films that he helped make, he began developing what would become 1985's Brazil. In the early '80s, no studio was ready to back Gilliam on such an elaborate project until he had at least one bonafide hit movie. So he and Michael Palin got together and put together something that wouldn't be ignored by the studios, writing it over the course of one weekend, and producing it with the help of their friends at HandMade Films, George Harrison and Denis O'Brien.
Kevin (Warnock) is an eleven year old history buff (especially of the Ancient Greek period) whose parents constantly ignore him, preferring to keep up with the neighbors by acquiring all of the latest gadgets. He is awakened one evening by a knight on horseback bursting from his wardrobe and riding off into a forest that has appeared where a bedroom wall should be. When Kevin investigates later, he finds nothing out of the ordinary, but he prepares for the next night with a torch and a Polaroid camera. Six dwarves stumble out of the wardrobe, and they are initially scared by Kevin's torch, thinking he's the "Supreme Being" (voiced by Tony Jay, played in person by Richardson). When they realize Kevin is just a kid, they ignore him in favor of finding a way out, pushing a bedroom wall out of place. The genuine Supreme Being shows up behind them, demanding the return of a map the dwarves have, and Kevin gets caught with them, falling into darkness at the end of the long hallway.
Kevin learns that the dwarves are employees of the Supreme Being, and their map is supposed to help them repair holes in time and space. They are in a labor dispute, and are simply using the map to steal treasures from all eras of history. At the same time, they're being watched by the "Source of All Evil" and his henchmen, who want the map to recreate the universe in his manner. Kevin and the others travel through time, meeting Napoleon Bonaparte (Holm) and Robin Hood (Cleese), survive the sinking of the Titanic, and Kevin spends time by himself in ancient Greece, meeting and bonding with Agamemnon (Connery). They also have a final conflict with the Source of All Evil, defeating him, and Kevin goes home. But, was this all a wild dream?
Recommended movie.
Starring: John Cleese, Sean Connery, Shelley Duvall, Ralph Richardson, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Michael Palin, David Rappaport, Craig Warnock
Producers: Terry Gilliam, George Harrison, Denis O'Brien
Director: Terry Gilliam
Available at Amazon: Criterion edition, Non-Criterion edition.
After Terry Gilliam had success with Jabberwocky, and the two Monty Python films that he helped make, he began developing what would become 1985's Brazil. In the early '80s, no studio was ready to back Gilliam on such an elaborate project until he had at least one bonafide hit movie. So he and Michael Palin got together and put together something that wouldn't be ignored by the studios, writing it over the course of one weekend, and producing it with the help of their friends at HandMade Films, George Harrison and Denis O'Brien.
Kevin (Warnock) is an eleven year old history buff (especially of the Ancient Greek period) whose parents constantly ignore him, preferring to keep up with the neighbors by acquiring all of the latest gadgets. He is awakened one evening by a knight on horseback bursting from his wardrobe and riding off into a forest that has appeared where a bedroom wall should be. When Kevin investigates later, he finds nothing out of the ordinary, but he prepares for the next night with a torch and a Polaroid camera. Six dwarves stumble out of the wardrobe, and they are initially scared by Kevin's torch, thinking he's the "Supreme Being" (voiced by Tony Jay, played in person by Richardson). When they realize Kevin is just a kid, they ignore him in favor of finding a way out, pushing a bedroom wall out of place. The genuine Supreme Being shows up behind them, demanding the return of a map the dwarves have, and Kevin gets caught with them, falling into darkness at the end of the long hallway.
Kevin learns that the dwarves are employees of the Supreme Being, and their map is supposed to help them repair holes in time and space. They are in a labor dispute, and are simply using the map to steal treasures from all eras of history. At the same time, they're being watched by the "Source of All Evil" and his henchmen, who want the map to recreate the universe in his manner. Kevin and the others travel through time, meeting Napoleon Bonaparte (Holm) and Robin Hood (Cleese), survive the sinking of the Titanic, and Kevin spends time by himself in ancient Greece, meeting and bonding with Agamemnon (Connery). They also have a final conflict with the Source of All Evil, defeating him, and Kevin goes home. But, was this all a wild dream?
Recommended movie.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Jabberwocky
Jabberwocky. 1977 Cinema 5 Distributing, Python Films, Umbrella Films.
Starring: Michael Palin, Harry H. Corbett, John Le Mesurier, Warren Mitchell
Director: Terry Gilliam
Jabberwocky at Amazon (discontinued).
Michael Palin (the nicest Python) plays Dennis Cooper, a failed cooper who is disowned by his dying father, moves from his village to the city hoping to change his fortunes. Things in the city aren't much better, as the top merchants in town are profiting nicely from the fear that the Jabberwock dragon is causing the local residents. In time, Cooper finds himself on a quest along with King Bruno the Questionable's "champion" to slay the Jabberwock. Dennis unwittingly slays the beast and gets everything he could possibly want as a reward...the problem is, it's not what he was looking for to make him happy.
This is Gilliam's first motion picture as a solo director, and there are some Pythonesque touches with Palin in the lead role, along with appearances by Terry Jones and Neil Innes.
Jabberwocky has its moments, but it really isn't a movie I'm going to go out of my way to see, despite the presence of Michael Palin. Maybe next time, I'll watch the film with the commentary from Palin and Gilliam turned on.
Starring: Michael Palin, Harry H. Corbett, John Le Mesurier, Warren Mitchell
Director: Terry Gilliam
Jabberwocky at Amazon (discontinued).
Michael Palin (the nicest Python) plays Dennis Cooper, a failed cooper who is disowned by his dying father, moves from his village to the city hoping to change his fortunes. Things in the city aren't much better, as the top merchants in town are profiting nicely from the fear that the Jabberwock dragon is causing the local residents. In time, Cooper finds himself on a quest along with King Bruno the Questionable's "champion" to slay the Jabberwock. Dennis unwittingly slays the beast and gets everything he could possibly want as a reward...the problem is, it's not what he was looking for to make him happy.
This is Gilliam's first motion picture as a solo director, and there are some Pythonesque touches with Palin in the lead role, along with appearances by Terry Jones and Neil Innes.
Jabberwocky has its moments, but it really isn't a movie I'm going to go out of my way to see, despite the presence of Michael Palin. Maybe next time, I'll watch the film with the commentary from Palin and Gilliam turned on.
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