Cult 101: Brazil (1985)
Director: Terry Gilliam Run Time: 132 min. Rating: R Release Year: 1985
Starring: Bob Hoskins, Ian Holm, Jonathan Pryce, Kim Greist, Robert De Niro
Country: United Kingdom, United States
Language: English
Newly restored 4K version | Screening as part of the December 2024 Cult 101 lineup.
About the film:
In the dystopian masterpiece Brazil (1985), Jonathan Pryce plays a daydreaming everyman who finds himself caught in the soul-crushing gears of a nightmarish bureaucracy. This cautionary tale by Terry Gilliam, one of the great films of the 1980s, has come to be esteemed alongside anti-totalitarian works by the likes of George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, and Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
And in terms of set design, cinematography, music, and effects, the film is a nonstop dazzler. Filled with his trademark humor and visual inventiveness, Gilliam’s stunning magnum opus received Academy Award nominations for both its script and production design, among other accolades.
About the filmmaker:
Terry Gilliam is an American-born British filmmaker, comedian, animator and actor whose stories explore imagination and opposition to bureaucracy and authoritarianism. His feature films include Time Bandits (1981), Brazil (1985), The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), The Fisher King (1991), 12 Monkeys (1995), and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), among others. His work has been recognized at film festivals around the world, including Cannes, Berlin, Toronto, and Venice.
Gilliam rose to fame as part of the comedy group Monty Python, a British surreal comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy show Monty Python’s Flying Circus, which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Their foray into films began with a collection of their sketches called And Now for Something Completely Different (1971) and continued with Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)—co-directed by Gilliam and Terry Jones—Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979), Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1982), and Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life (1983).
Last presented in December 2023
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