Terry Gilliam Showdown: 12 Monkeys vs Brazil

[JimMcGarva 8]

We need to get some Terry Gilliam in the canon, and I'd like to see some of his post-Monty Python work in a head-to-head. I feel like Brazil gets talked about more, but my personal favourite is 12 Monkeys. Thoughts?

[Muthsarah 124]

Brazil would stomp any other Gilliams, let's be clear. But, yes, ANY Gilliams. Let us please discuss the man and his beautiful madness.

[Ryan L 57]

Time Bandits, The Fisher King, or even Lost in La Mancha would be better options for a Gilliam versus than Brazil; it's just too easily going to trounce anything in its path.

[NathanGordon 1096]

Brazil was my favorite movie for a long time when I was younger.

 

Now it just depresses me, because it reminds me of how great Gilliam was. I'm not sure if it's all been out of his control but a lot of factors have worked against him (actors dying, sets being flooded, studios dropping support) throughout his career. Honestly I think 12 Monkeys was the last kind of great film he made, and that one leans heavily on the incredible tango music of Astor Piazzolla, to say nothing of its fantastic source material (La Jetee). His work since the turn of the millennium seems like that of someone whose energies have been sapped (which they have been, at that point).

 

He had a magical run in the 1980s and 90s though, and I think his style has been coopted into more mainstream directors like Burton and Aronofsky, neither of which have the gentle humanist touch Gilliam achieved at his best.

[joel_rosenbaum 1269]

Has Munchausen been reformed yet? I always enjoyed that movie, but I haven't watched it recently.