Part of Holiday Classics
In this Christmas-set dystopian masterpiece from surrealist auteur and Monty Python alum Terry Gilliam, Jonathan Pryce plays a daydreaming everyman who finds himself caught in the soul-crushing gears of a nightmarish bureaucracy. This cautionary tale, one of the great films of the 1980s, has come to be esteemed alongside other anti-totalitarian works by the likes of George Orwell, Aldous Huxley and Kurt Vonnegut Jr. And in its set design, cinematography, music and effects, BRAZIL is a nonstop dazzler.
“This modern cult classic is a triumphantly dark comedy directed by one of the film world’s truly original visionaries, Terry Gilliam. “Imagination” is this futuristic film’s middle name.” —Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle
“Terry Gilliam’s ferociously creative black comedy is filled with wild tonal contrasts, swarming details, and unfettered visual invention—every shot carries a charge of surprise and delight.” —Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader (Oct 26, 1985)
“A jaunty, wittily observed vision of an extremely bleak future, is a superb example of the power of comedy to underscore serious ideas, even solemn ones…. A remarkable accomplishment for Mr. Gilliam, whose satirical and cautionary impulses work beautifully together.” —Janet Maslin, New York Times (Dec 18, 1985)