It's only a state of mind.
Low-level bureaucrat Sam Lowry escapes the monotony of his day-to-day life through a recurring daydream of himself as a virtuous hero saving a beautiful damsel. Investigating a case that led to the wrongful arrest and eventual death of an innocent man instead of wanted terrorist Harry Tuttle, he meets the woman from his daydream, and in trying to help her gets caught in a web of mistaken identities, mindless bureaucracy and lies.
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Character
Meticulous, richly built, open-ended and demanding.
- rawmeticulous
- sparerichly built
- resolvedopen-ended
- effortlessdemanding
- unpretentiousprestige
Who loves it, who doesn't
59 profiled raters. Loved most by The Provocateurs; disliked most by The Comfort Seekers.
Where do you stand?
Answer first; then see how everyone, and your circle, split.
“Is this Terry Gilliam's best work?”
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“Is the world more interesting than the story?”
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“Is the polish hiding a lack of heart?”
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A yes-or-no question, answered from what people wrote here, on TMDB and on Wikipedia. Never made up.
Reviews
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Reviews on TMDB
Written by TMDB members; each links to the original. Not part of Tastebuds's numbers.
- misubisuon TMDB · May 202610/10
**Score: 20/10 A Perfect, Unassailable Masterpiece of Dystopian Imagination** Some films are not merely watched; they are *inhabited*. Terry Gilliam's *Brazil* is such a film. It is a towering, terrifying, hilarious, and heartbreaking vision of a world that feels more prescient with each passing year. The Director's Cut the *only* version that should ever be watched is a flawless work of art, an achievement so complete that it transcends traditional scoring systems. Hence, the only appropriate score is 20/10. **The Imagination of Terry Gilliam is Other Worldly** There is no filmmaker quite like Gilliam, and *Brazil* is his magnum opus. The film's bureaucracy-as-nightmare aesthetic is so densely, lovingly, and horrifyingly detailed that you could pause any frame and spend an hour tracing the labyrinthine ducts, the archaic pneumatic tubes, the sprawling, brutalist architecture that seems to breed despair. **Any reality that Terry Gilliam constructs is perfect in every detail**, from the claustrophobic, duct-riddled apartment of Sam Lowry to the sterile, soul-crushing expanse of the Ministry of Information. This is not merely production design; it is world-building at the level of hi
Read the whole review on TMDB - Filipe Manuel Netoon TMDB · Mar 20234/10
**A film that was enough for more than one review: dream, nightmare, utopia and reality.** It was in 1939 that composer and singer-songwriter Ary Barroso released the iconic song “Aquarela do Brasil”. This samba became an icon of Brazilian music and was sung and disseminated by such noble voices as Francisco Alves, João Gilberto, Tom Jobim, Caetano Veloso, Tim Maia, Gal Costa, Erasmo Carlos, Elis Regina and, in English versions, Frank Sinatra and the Portuguese Carmem Miranda. Ary Barroso, however, never imagined that the mere sight of an elderly man, sitting on a beach on a rainy day while listening to his song, would end up inspiring Terry Gilliam to make a film. But, before these words can mislead anyone, and especially any Brazilian, it is necessary to clarify that the film has nothing to do with Brazil. The film takes place in an unnamed country that lives under a dictatorship (okay, Brazil was a dictatorship when the film was released, but the similarity ends there). The government, obsessed with controlling information, has created a monstrous and highly ineffective bureaucratic system that makes fatal mistakes. It is because of one of these mistakes that a citizen is arrest
Read the whole review on TMDB - chadricoon TMDB · Apr 201810/10
One of my all time favourite sci fi movies. Set the bench mark for modern sci fi, should be considered a great like Blade Runner. Great acting, story, soundtrack! 5/5
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Cast
- Jonathan PryceSam Lowry
- Robert De NiroHarry Tuttle
- Katherine HelmondMrs. Ida Lowry
- Ian HolmMr. Kurtzmann
- Bob HoskinsSpoor
- Michael PalinJack Lint
- Ian RichardsonMr. Warrenn
- Peter VaughanMr. Helpmann
- Kim GreistJill Layton
- Jim BroadbentDr. Jaffe
Crew
- Terry GilliamDirector
- Tom StoppardScreenplay
- Terry GilliamScreenplay
- Charles McKeownScreenplay
- Roger PrattDirector of Photography
- Michael KamenOriginal Music Composer
- Julian DoyleEditor
- Arnon MilchanProducer
- Patrick CassavettiProducer
Where to watch
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Pairings
Companions we picked from the closest works, and how to take them.
Similar in taste
Closest on the same fourteen dimensions, from everything scored on Tastebuds Other media included when they land close.
The City of Lost Children 199565% alikeBoth meticulous.
Judy & Punch 201965% alikeClose across the board.
Catch-22 197061% alikeClose across the board; this one is more spare.
Inglourious Basterds 200959% alikeClose across the board.
The Bride! 202659% alikeClose across the board.
Bad Education 200457% alikeClose across the board.
Donnie Darko 200157% alikeClose across the board; this one is more grave.
Satyricon 196956% alikeClose across the board; this one is more cool.
Undertale 201572% alikeGame · Both meticulous.
Road 96 202166% alikeGame · Close across the board.
Often watched with
Recommendations from TMDB. Opening one adds it to Tastebuds
