This little known 1985 classic picked up by the Criterion series as a collector's item was a surprise to me. This film, directed by Terry Gilliam and featuring Michael Palin (both from Monty Python), has a peculiar star cast among which are Jonathan Pryce, Bob Hoskins, Robert De Niro, and Ian Holm to name a few. This movie is a grim, pessimistic view of a futuristic society frighteningly not unlike our present. The plot revolves around Jonathan Pryce's character Sam Lowry who wants to just stay in his current position and get by at his information gathering company (Freedom of Information Act, anyone?). When things start to go wrong around him and a case of mistaken identity results in a death, he takes a look around and starts taking intiative to do something about it. He has dreams constantly about being a man with luxurious hair and a painted blue face with giant wings trying to rescue a beautiful angel hidden in white netting. At first, these dreams make little sense until the symbolism behind them begins to come forth. By accident or fate, he actually gets to see in real life the face of the woman in his dreams and his search to find her and find out who she is forces him to delve deeper into his company and accept a promotion to the Information Retrieval department where any force necessary occurs to get that information. Now this all sounds pretty serious from the way I've described it, but I can assure you that all these things are under the surface of the movie. Mostly, it's all pretty brutal comedy with some fantastic quotes. At one point while dining in a restaurant with his mother and two other women, there is an explosion created by terrorists in the kitchen and no one seems to notice. They all continue their conversations as before, but at a higher volume and the waiter rushes over to check on refills and has some screens put up behind them so they won't be disturbed by the wreckage and screaming. Robert De Niro plays Tuttle, a rogue Air Conditioning repairman who shows up in the middle of the night unannounced to help out Lowry who spent the night with his head in the refridgerator. Tuttle is one of the "terrorists" being sought out by Lowry's company and the reason seems to be that he repairs things without filling out all the crucial paperwork. The future depends on mountains of forms that need to be signed to do anything. Bob Hoskins' character shows up for comic relief and to destroy Lowry's miniscule, gadget-ridden apartment while "fixing" the A/C for him. I can't say enough about the size and detail of the sets in this movie. Many of them seem to be huge optical illusions making you feel even more small and insignificant in this time period. Big tubes are hanging from ceilings everywhere making apartments and offices feel small and cramped. In offices, you have to share a desk with the office next door through the wall. You have to buy fresh air, every inch of the highway is covered with billboards, and an obsession with plastic surgery looms everywhere. It has an amazing climax that turns everything inside out leaving you wondering what happened. All in all, this is a very entertaining film and needs to be viewed with an open mind and attention to detail. Make sure you have two and a half hours to spare in your day and they'll fly by. Great plot, visuals, and makes you think. This is an excellent movie and you're all going to think I'm a softie with my grading scale but it gets an A.Read full review
Perfect!
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Great shape and came early
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
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