Hi everybody,
I'm back from Austria, unfortunately I didn't have any time to write about movies for the last week and a half. I was so busy that I didn't even have time to watch any of the great movie suggestions that were given to me via comments from my last post. I do promise to watch a few of the suggested movies though, I am still curious as to why some of them were chosen.
I'm back from Austria, unfortunately I didn't have any time to write about movies for the last week and a half. I was so busy that I didn't even have time to watch any of the great movie suggestions that were given to me via comments from my last post. I do promise to watch a few of the suggested movies though, I am still curious as to why some of them were chosen.
Anyway, getting back into the swing of things, I am writing a mid-term paper about Brazil for my film class, so I might as well write on the blog about it too. It was only a matter of time before I wrote about this movie in some form, seeing as it was an instant top ten on my list.
The most striking thing about Brazil is its odd mix of intent. It is chilling, funny, sad, intellectual, and suspenseful all at once. Shots composed right next to each other evoke these very different feelings. For instance early in the film, we see the stormtroopers raid the Buttle home in a terrifying blitz. Yet once the dust clears, an officer in a silly hat brings Mrs. Buttle a receipt for the raid which she must sign for, and the comedic "Department of Works" (reminiscent of Monty Python) arrive on the scene with their oddly ineffective ceiling plug.
The most striking thing about Brazil is its odd mix of intent. It is chilling, funny, sad, intellectual, and suspenseful all at once. Shots composed right next to each other evoke these very different feelings. For instance early in the film, we see the stormtroopers raid the Buttle home in a terrifying blitz. Yet once the dust clears, an officer in a silly hat brings Mrs. Buttle a receipt for the raid which she must sign for, and the comedic "Department of Works" (reminiscent of Monty Python) arrive on the scene with their oddly ineffective ceiling plug.
Terry Gilliam is a very unique director to say the least. If the director acts as the mediator between the films message and its audience, then Terry Gilliam is like a mad professor. The choices he makes don't always help the overall design of the movie, but I like them anyway.
The dialog in this movie helps to develop the characters, but doesn't have the structure (or what some people would call formulaic) that is in many studio flicks. It's unbalanced, sometimes we peer into the life of Mr. Helpman, Mrs. Lowry, or Jack Lint. One of the major criticisms of the movie is not developing one of the film's few female characters, Jill. Even though this is a love story between Sam and Jill, more screen time is given to interactions between Sam and Kurtzmann. According to Gillaim, the script originally had a more developed relationship between Sam and Jill but had to be cut in editing. It seems as if the development of characters in Brazil is incidental to one thing only, developing the idealogical message of the movie. Even a "bad guy" henchman gets a precious moment in the chase scene when Sam and Jill are fleeing. After the troopers crash and their vehicle burns up, we see one burning up while running from the wreck. In a two hour film, every edit counts and in Brazil, nothing is done purely for the sake of character development.
Another interesting feel of the movie are the props. Many of the machines or devices we see in this movie don't even make sense. Many of the devices, such as in Sam's apartment do not work as they should (a point unto itself), but then later we see industrial design that is totally outrageous. They indicate a sense of invasiveness, isolation, or technological decay, but yet they are too silly looking too really pose a threat. Quite contrary to any other dystopian film. In a movie that is trying to make a serious point, it has an interesting sense of humor about props. Not surprising, however, for a Gilliam film.
While these choices don't have as much structure or design, it makes the movie a more personal piece. I've heard more often of directors' choices being guided by the movie as a greater whole, as if it is an organism beyond anyone's control, rather than to directly serve the idealogical perspective of a director. Here Gilliam seems to make choices on intuition. In the commentary he has said two things that ever since have resonated with me:
1. "I dont want to do 'Committee Films' I dont want to do it that way, I dont want democracy to rear its ugly head when it comes to film making...That's why I dont have preview screenings, because I feel like a lot of the principal is that democracy is part of the process"
2. "When I make a film, I don't do it very intellectually, I don't approach it in an intellectual way or analytical way I'm doing it as an emotional expression of something, it's only afterwards...that I've realized what I've done...I want to keep doing that, I don't want to be too self aware...when you do, you start getting clever...you start worrying about the wrong things."
I think as an artist I am definitely guilty of "over thinking it." And as someone who really values other people's opinions, (sometimes too much) I fall prey to the democratic process of art. This commentary really changed the way I look at the creation process.
The dialog in this movie helps to develop the characters, but doesn't have the structure (or what some people would call formulaic) that is in many studio flicks. It's unbalanced, sometimes we peer into the life of Mr. Helpman, Mrs. Lowry, or Jack Lint. One of the major criticisms of the movie is not developing one of the film's few female characters, Jill. Even though this is a love story between Sam and Jill, more screen time is given to interactions between Sam and Kurtzmann. According to Gillaim, the script originally had a more developed relationship between Sam and Jill but had to be cut in editing. It seems as if the development of characters in Brazil is incidental to one thing only, developing the idealogical message of the movie. Even a "bad guy" henchman gets a precious moment in the chase scene when Sam and Jill are fleeing. After the troopers crash and their vehicle burns up, we see one burning up while running from the wreck. In a two hour film, every edit counts and in Brazil, nothing is done purely for the sake of character development.
Another interesting feel of the movie are the props. Many of the machines or devices we see in this movie don't even make sense. Many of the devices, such as in Sam's apartment do not work as they should (a point unto itself), but then later we see industrial design that is totally outrageous. They indicate a sense of invasiveness, isolation, or technological decay, but yet they are too silly looking too really pose a threat. Quite contrary to any other dystopian film. In a movie that is trying to make a serious point, it has an interesting sense of humor about props. Not surprising, however, for a Gilliam film.
While these choices don't have as much structure or design, it makes the movie a more personal piece. I've heard more often of directors' choices being guided by the movie as a greater whole, as if it is an organism beyond anyone's control, rather than to directly serve the idealogical perspective of a director. Here Gilliam seems to make choices on intuition. In the commentary he has said two things that ever since have resonated with me:
1. "I dont want to do 'Committee Films' I dont want to do it that way, I dont want democracy to rear its ugly head when it comes to film making...That's why I dont have preview screenings, because I feel like a lot of the principal is that democracy is part of the process"
2. "When I make a film, I don't do it very intellectually, I don't approach it in an intellectual way or analytical way I'm doing it as an emotional expression of something, it's only afterwards...that I've realized what I've done...I want to keep doing that, I don't want to be too self aware...when you do, you start getting clever...you start worrying about the wrong things."
I think as an artist I am definitely guilty of "over thinking it." And as someone who really values other people's opinions, (sometimes too much) I fall prey to the democratic process of art. This commentary really changed the way I look at the creation process.
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