Brazil

[melodyssister]

Not the country, Terry Gilliam's film, which ADC and I watched tonight. ADC has seen it before, but apparently the American (truncated) version, as opposed to the European (director's cut) we saw on Netflix. This was the first time I watched it, although I think I must have seen clips from it, as the first scene at the records department seemed very familiar.

I won't go into the plot, such as it is, as the atmosphere is much more important (and I am really tired). I guess Brazil was an important influence on steampunk (eumelia, help me out here), with all the exposed ducts and the Enigma-style computer consoles. Definitely not surprised to discover that the planned title was 1984 and 1/2, as the comparison with Orwell's book and Fellini's film are obvious. I was intrigued how similar the design was to Quadrophenia, which is very much set in the (then) real world - the workers at the Department of Information dress very similarly to those at the advertising firm in which Jimmy works. And Robert deNiro was clearly having a great time - an early version of his Captain Shakespeare character from Stardust, I thought.

Has anyone else seen a good movie recently? We are coming tothe end of our wishlist on streaming. 

Comments

[mimimanderly.livejournal.com]

I'll have to put this film on my Netflix list; it sounds right up my alley. I watched The Matrix again last night. It's remarkable the way you can read new things into a film fifteen or so years later. The books one has read and the experiences one has had in the interim can bring so many more nuances into it. Something I would recommend would be the series Fringe. It's reminiscent of the X-Files, but the characters are much more likable, and there is an actual story arc that runs through the series; although sometimes an episode can stand on its own, in order to understand the arc, it must be viewed linearly. Lots of alternate universe and time travel stuff, although the first half of the first season is mostly setting things up for later episodes.