Brazil (1985)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Terry Gilliam

Writers:

Terry Gilliam (screenplay) &
Tom Stoppard (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

18 December 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

It's only a state of mind.

Plot:

A bureaucrat in a retro-future world tries to correct an administrative error and himself becomes an enemy of the state.

Plot Keywords:

Bureaucracy | Terrorist | Dream | Bureaucrat | Technology

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 8 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Jonathan Pryce	...	Sam Lowry
Robert De Niro	...	Archibald 'Harry' Tuttle
Katherine Helmond	...	Mrs. Ida Lowry
Ian Holm	...	Mr. M. Kurtzmann
Bob Hoskins	...	Spoor
Michael Palin	...	Jack Lint
Ian Richardson	...	Mr. Warrenn
Peter Vaughan	...	Mr. Helpmann
Kim Greist	...	Jill Layton
Jim Broadbent	...	Dr. Jaffe
Barbara Hicks	...	Mrs. Alma Terrain
Charles McKeown	...	Harvey Lime
Derrick O'Connor	...	Dowser
Kathryn Pogson	...	Shirley
Bryan Pringle	...	Spiro

Also Known As:

1984 and 1/2 (UK) (working title)
1984½ (UK) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for some strong violence. (edited version)

Runtime:

132 min | USA:94 min (edited version) | 142 min (director's cut)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Germany:12 (re-rating) (uncut) | Germany:18 (original rating) (cut) | Germany:12 (re-rating) (2003) | Brazil:14 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:G (Québec) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | New Zealand:R13 | Norway:16 (1985) | Singapore:PG | South Korea:15 (DVD rating) | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:18 (1985-2003)

Filming Locations:

Croydon, Surrey, England, UK

Company:

Embassy International Pictures

Trivia:

During his trouble with a studio, Terry Gilliam asked daily variety for a full page ad, which cost around $1,500 at the time. He had it bordered like a funeral invitation and it said: "Dear Sid Sheinberg, when are you going to release my film? Signed: Terry Gilliam."

Goofs:

Continuity: When the secretary transcribes the words of the tortured, the second time the text is shown, there's actually less text than in the first shot: already typed out lines are suddenly vanished.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Singers: [TV commercial jingle] Central Services: We do the work, you do the pleasure.
TV commercial pitchman: Hi, there. I want to talk to you about ducts.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)

Soundtrack:

As Time Goes By

An extraordinary movie, original, funny and frightening. Terry Gilliam's masterpiece.

I really can't tell you how much my first viewing of this movie knocked me out. Nearly twenty years ago, before Terry Gilliam's reputation is what it is today, seeing this in a cinema without knowing ANYTHING about it, it was one of the most unforgettable movie experiences of my life! Still is. I was a Python fan since childhood and well aware of Gilliam's animation work, but nothing could prepare you for just how bizarre, funny, scary and disturbing 'Brazil' is. It's still one of the most original and inventive science fiction movies ever made, with a surreal, retro future quite unlike anything seen on a movie screen before or since. Gilliam mixes Python's anarchic, intellectual humour with Orwell, Kafka and Theatre Of The Absurd elements and comes up with something really special. John Sladek kinda sorta wrote some stories in a similar territory before this, and Dean Motter has written some comics since, but 'Brazil' is really in a world of its own! Jonathan Pryce was fairly obscure at the time and an odd choice to play the leading role, but is perfectly cast, and it's hard to think of an actor who would have been as convincing and sympathetic. The rest of the cast includes an amusing cameo from Robert De Niro, Kim Greist (only her second movie, after 'C.H.U.D.' of all things!) as Pryce's love interest, Python's Michael Palin, and a bunch of excellent Brit character actors - Bob Hoskins, Ian Richardson, Ian Holm, Jim Broadbent, etc.etc. It goes without saying that when I praise 'Brazil' I am ONLY referring to Gilliam's cut. This is still an utterly brilliant movie, one of the very best of the last twenty-five years. I can't recommend this movie highly enough, it is a masterpiece pure and simple.