Review of Brazil (1985) by Trailesque — 08 Mar 2018
A unquestionably bizarre film, "Brazil" at first seems like an improvisation on Orwell's 1984, a funnier 1984, and ends up being like nothing else ever made by anyone, anywhere. An average fellow, the son of a rich, decadent woman, who works for the Ministry of Information, gets caught up in a series of bureaucratic nightmares inflicted by a heartless, tyrannical, uber-government.
He fantasizes about flying thru the air, confronting demons dressed like samurai robots, and of a pretty blonde, who turns up in his life one day, the member of a rebel group. There was some controversy about "Brazil" back in the day because of its liberal use of terrorist bombings and its misanthropic character sketches.
The story is nothing all that brilliant, but the visuals are magnificently dystopian, with fantastic, gritty, futuristic urban sets, pipes and ducts tumbling out of walls, police in quasi-Nazi garb, and depictions of luxury.
I read somewhere that this movie was the beginning of the steampunk aesthetic.
This review of Brazil (1985) was written by Trailesque on 08 Mar 2018.
Brazil has generally received very positive reviews.
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