Brazil (1985)
I had been meaning to see this movie for like years, and was about to watch the version on Amazon, which is inexplicably the studio cut version that Gilliam hated. Thankfully I found the Critereon version instead and watched that. I have long had the movie spoiled because I have a terrible habit of looking up the plot on wikipedia.
This movie absolutely pinballs between being very funny and very tragic. The set and production design is fantastic. There’s so many details and gags in the film I’m probably not going to remember, so I might just go shot by shot and pick things out later on. The phone using patch cables instead of buttons is brilliant. Computer screens being very tiny but compensating with a huge magnifying lens is inspired. Valve absolutely ripped off the hanging suit thing for Half Life 2
Weird how Bob Hoskins was a plumber in this movie, and a movie inspired by Brazil (That is, Super Mario Brothers the movie) These two films would make a good double feature. Robert De Nero is in like 2 or 3 scenes but he goes 100% in each of them. When I saw his getup I immediately imagined a Splinter Cell like stealth action HVAC Repair game, probably something Brendan Chung would dream up. Micheal Palin is terrifying as basically a completely normal person (It’s funny that the only time he drops the pretense is when he’s literally taking a mask off)
I think the only thing that doesn’t make sense about the film is Lowery’s romance with Jill, especially after putting her in danger multiple times. I guess in retrospect, Lowery isn’t a good person at all! Not that he deserves what happens.
I think what’s ultimately terrifying about the film is that the world will be terrible and most people will carry on like nothing horrible has happened, which is totally accurate