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22 December 2023
Gateway drugs are, supposedly, a relatively harmless drug that starts a descent into harder drugs or increased frequency of use of the beginner drug. Some people see cigarettes as gateway drugs; for others, it's pot. I think the term "gateway drug" can be used to refer to other mediums, including cinema.
My gateway drug into the world of Freak Films was a brilliant flick directed by Terry Gilliam called Brazil (1985). I was about 13 or 14 at the time. I had read about it in an interview with one of my favorite artists, so I though I'd check it out. I would never be the same again.
Brazil is an Orwellian tale of an office worker named Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce). He is oppressed by everyone, including his plastic surgery obsessed mother (played by Katherine Helmond from Who's the Boss!). Instead of taking control of his life, he creates an elaborate fantasy world starring himself as a winged hero helping the damsel in distress. Things get turned upside down for Mr. Lowry when he sees the woman he's been dreaming about in real life. Things become even more complicated when he starts to suspect she may be a terrorist.
Brazil is a hallucinogenic, surreal black comedy that completely distorted the way I saw the world. Before this film, I never knew that movies could be this dark, disturbing, and hilarious.
The cinematography (by Roger Pratt - Batman) alone is worth repeated viewings. Characters are framed in cartoon-like wide-angle lenses in front of hallways longer than football fields. Homes are invaded with all the ducts and pipes of a normal world, except they are not hidden away behind walls. People can literally drown in paperwork. It's a retro future, like all those 1950's Popular Mechanics predictions that never quite came true.
In Brazil, Gilliam brought his Monty Python sensibilities together with his paranoid fears of the future, and changed my life. After Brazil, I started down this path of loving strange movies, discovering other auteurs like David Lynch, Cronenberg, Jeunet, and many more. But, like the first gateway film that brought you into the world of Freak Films, Brazil has carved out its own special home in my heart.
If you've never seen Brazil, there is a Criterion three-disc set that has the European director's cut included. This is the version to rent, as it has some scenes that were cut from the U.S. print. It also has the original ending.
After this flick, Gilliam went on to direct The Fisher King, Twelve Monkeys, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, all of which are brilliant and worthy of their own Freak Film column.
PURCHASE THIS OR SIMILAR ITEMS
My gateway drug into the world of Freak Films was a brilliant flick directed by Terry Gilliam called Brazil (1985). I was about 13 or 14 at the time. I had read about it in an interview with one of my favorite artists, so I though I'd check it out. I would never be the same again.
Brazil is an Orwellian tale of an office worker named Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce). He is oppressed by everyone, including his plastic surgery obsessed mother (played by Katherine Helmond from Who's the Boss!). Instead of taking control of his life, he creates an elaborate fantasy world starring himself as a winged hero helping the damsel in distress. Things get turned upside down for Mr. Lowry when he sees the woman he's been dreaming about in real life. Things become even more complicated when he starts to suspect she may be a terrorist.
Brazil is a hallucinogenic, surreal black comedy that completely distorted the way I saw the world. Before this film, I never knew that movies could be this dark, disturbing, and hilarious.
The cinematography (by Roger Pratt - Batman) alone is worth repeated viewings. Characters are framed in cartoon-like wide-angle lenses in front of hallways longer than football fields. Homes are invaded with all the ducts and pipes of a normal world, except they are not hidden away behind walls. People can literally drown in paperwork. It's a retro future, like all those 1950's Popular Mechanics predictions that never quite came true.
In Brazil, Gilliam brought his Monty Python sensibilities together with his paranoid fears of the future, and changed my life. After Brazil, I started down this path of loving strange movies, discovering other auteurs like David Lynch, Cronenberg, Jeunet, and many more. But, like the first gateway film that brought you into the world of Freak Films, Brazil has carved out its own special home in my heart.
If you've never seen Brazil, there is a Criterion three-disc set that has the European director's cut included. This is the version to rent, as it has some scenes that were cut from the U.S. print. It also has the original ending.
After this flick, Gilliam went on to direct The Fisher King, Twelve Monkeys, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, all of which are brilliant and worthy of their own Freak Film column.
PURCHASE THIS OR SIMILAR ITEMS
artid
1473
Old Image
5_11_freak.jpg
issue
vol 5 - issue 11 (jul 2003)
section
entertainmental