I'm Happy after buyingThis Brazil Criterion Collection Blu ray Jonathan
Brazil is about a future. A future which is full of shiny machines that don't work. Smart houses that don't get power. A bright future that can't reach the goals set for it. Food ordered by the number and lifts that get stuck. Numbers for names, shoe hats, cameras that look like eyeballs and volley ball games all mixed together. We don't even know where the story is really placed. While Tuttle was wanted it was Buttle who was arrested. The government isn't evil as much as it is just bureaucratic and paranoid. They want to do what is right, what is practical, to protect everybody but it seems to turn out all wrong and everybody ends up being hurt.
The totalitarian state in the film is under attack from both outside forces in the form of terrorism and from inside forcees in the form of its own incompetence and tons of red tape. Ugly, twisted, clean and bright all at the same time. I liked the nice computers and the offices that reminded me of MiniTruth from 1984. The movie was directed by Terry Gilliam and much of the feeling and landscape is based on the early the 20th Century's ideas of what the future was to look like, such as Fritz Lang's vision in Metropolis, mixed with the influences of witch trials, Victorian architecture, and IRA bombings.
The point of view is mostly from Sam, a geek, a nobody, a cog in the machine, who is just trying to survive. Jonathan Pryce's character goes from happy to unhappy, from unhappy to insane, from insane to happy. Starring along side Mr. Pryce is also Michael Palin and Robert De Niro. While made in 1985 it holds up pretty well. The commentary by Terry Gilliam is from 1996 and very detailed while also wonderful to listen to.
Brazil is about a future. A future which is full of shiny machines that don't work. Smart houses that don't get power. A bright future that can't reach the goals set for it. Food ordered by the number and lifts that get stuck. Numbers for names, shoe hats, cameras that look like eyeballs and volley ball games all mixed together. We don't even know where the story is really placed. While Tuttle was wanted it was Buttle who was arrested. The government isn't evil as much as it is just bureaucratic and paranoid. They want to do what is right, what is practical, to protect everybody but it seems to turn out all wrong and everybody ends up being hurt.
ReplyDeleteThe totalitarian state in the film is under attack from both outside forces in the form of terrorism and from inside forcees in the form of its own incompetence and tons of red tape. Ugly, twisted, clean and bright all at the same time. I liked the nice computers and the offices that reminded me of MiniTruth from 1984. The movie was directed by Terry Gilliam and much of the feeling and landscape is based on the early the 20th Century's ideas of what the future was to look like, such as Fritz Lang's vision in Metropolis, mixed with the influences of witch trials, Victorian architecture, and IRA bombings.
The point of view is mostly from Sam, a geek, a nobody, a cog in the machine, who is just trying to survive. Jonathan Pryce's character goes from happy to unhappy, from unhappy to insane, from insane to happy. Starring along side Mr. Pryce is also Michael Palin and Robert De Niro. While made in 1985 it holds up pretty well. The commentary by Terry Gilliam is from 1996 and very detailed while also wonderful to listen to.
Just a warning, but if you buy the non-Criterion Collection version of Brazil, you are getting the 2 hour, 11 minute American release, which is what people got in theatres in America in 1985, in other words, the Universal Studios domestic release.If you buy the Criterion Collection Version, you get two movies, neither of which is 2 hours, 11 minutes long! The first disc is the International Release from 1985, as distributed by Fox, which is 2 hours, 22 minutes long. The other disc is the 94 minute cut (abomination, what have you) created by Sid Sheinberg and Universal Studios.Again, even the standard release of the Brazil DVD is a product of Universal butchering, which, while it allows for a dark ending, cuts a couple of scenes at the end that help to tie the film together. If you have not seen all 142 minutes (2 hours, 11 minutes) of Brazil, you have not been to Brazil...Universal has continued to disappoint me with sub-standard DVD releases (the Jerk and The Sting, both full screen and poor digital transfers, Dune in its shortened domestic release, and many more), which brings me to my original point, which is that Criterion, who's special edition DVDs are consistently wonderful, should do all of Universal's DVDs, and put us out of our misery.
ReplyDeleteA re-release of Criterion's "Brazil" is being released in September and is available for pre-order on the site. It has the exact same contents as this three-disc collection, but they have upgraded the video to an anamorphic transfer after complaints were filed by viewers that the transfer on this edition was so poor/grainy.
ReplyDeleteNot only that, but the list price is $41.99 as opposed to $59.99. The only difference is that there is an improved transfer on the new set and the cover art is a bit different.
So, before you buy this, you may want to re-consider and purchase the newer, improved release by Criterion.
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