Terry Gilliam is one of the few true visionaries of modern cinema.  The worlds he creates are so completely realized that one cannot help but be swept into his imagination.  25 years ago, I saw Brazil in a Miami theatre and was, indeed, swept away.  It remains one of my favorite films ever.  

I won’t recount the film’s plot here, nor the behind-the-scenes drama that prevented the film from ever getting the wide release it deserved.  Instead, I want readers who have never had the pleasure of seeing this unique work to have that experience.  So, spoilers ahead! 

The story plays on a classic theme: man against the system.   In this case, it is the dreams of one man that propel him through a dystopian world in search of his dream girl.  And what a world!  Today, CGI has made it impossible to distinguish what is real from what is false.  Back then, however, Mr. Gilliam created his imagery through astonishing production design, remarkable miniature work, and matte paintings.  Even the film’s most mundane scenes are still triumphs of artistry, design, and good old-fashioned imagination.  I feel Brazil’s world is superior to that of every computer-generated world that has since been manufactured.    (more…)

“They say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” —Andy Warhol

"I adore America and these are some comments on it. My image is a statement of the symbols of the harsh, impersonal products and brash materialistic objects on which America is built today. It is a projection of everything that can be bought and sold, and practical but impermanent symbols that sustain us." —Andy Warhol, 1962

Americans love rebels, even without cause or clue. Enough hip, smart, young people who are tired of having their faces and futures pushed into to sewage of bad ideas, pointless existences, and totalitarian ideologies, with strong support and encouragement, could really make a difference in the world. In contemporary context, they would be true anti-heroes, rebelling against the brave new world of ersatz freedom and the all-powerful fascist state, against crushing conformity and the annihilation of the rights of the individual.

Such things can and do happen.  Some might say they happened in the nineteen-sixties.  And they did—in Czechoslovakia. (more…)