Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Brazil: Steampunk Lumpen Totalitarian Bureaucratic Nightmare


Suspicion breeds confidence. --Brazil


What do ducts run amok, terrorist bombings, retro-futuristic steampunk imagery, lumpen totalitarian bureaucracy and Robert DeNiro have in common? The movie Brazil of course! Jonathan Pryce stars in this black comedy directed by Terry Gilliam (one of the guys from Monty Python) . Besides Robert DeNiro it also features Michael Palin (another Monty Python guy). The movie's from 1985, so you can be sure it does not have that perfectly bland digital commercial patina you see in every movie made nowadays.

The sets and costumes are absolutely amazing-- too amazing even for a government mule to scoff at. And yes, there is some random rubber content in the movie, though much of can be easily missed. Keep an eye out for the evil cops in gas masks and some random guy breathing into a rubber bag at what looks like a phone booth.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

One of my favourite films, though not easy to watch very often if you want to keep sane.

Mr Gilliam often features bits of kinky stuff it seems. ISTR 12 Monkeys had some interesting costumes.

Betty LaBamba said...

One of my favourite films, though not easy to watch very often if you want to keep sane.

So true. It took me a few days after watching it to get back to normal.

Mr Gilliam often features bits of kinky stuff it seems. ISTR 12 Monkeys had some interesting costumes.

Terry G. is awesome! I'm on a quest to see every movie he directed. I just saw Time Bandits a few days. Now I'll have to add 12 Monkeys to the rental queue.

Swiper said...

I saw that a few years ago and saw an awful lot of the novel Nineteen-Eighty-Four (George Orwell) in it.

When I watched this I thought "what-the-fuck!" with the flying angels and whatnot lmao. But was consoled by Robert being in there. Cool guy!

Bob Kowalski said...

If you like steam punk, you might want to take a look at "Firefly" and/or "Serenity". Nice stories and scifi without inane technobabble. The latest incarnations of Dr. Who also seem to be making use of steam punk as well.