Terry Gilliam's most revered movie.
The plot:
A low-level worker, Sam Lowry, is assigned to correct a bureaucratic error caused when an errant fly becomes caught up in the mechanisms of a printer, causing an innocent man to be incarcerated.
Lowry, in his efforts to correct the mistake, becomes ever more entangled in a world of red tape and bureaucracy that, ultimately, may cost him his very sanity.
Mixing fantasy with arch black comedy, Gilliam’s style is one that is not for every palate.
Set in a dystopian, grim vision of the world, this bears many of the hallmarks of Michael Radford’s interpretation of Orwell’s 1984, though here the tone is more slapstick, less bleak. With a heritage that encompasses the paranoid grime of 1970’s sci-fi, as well as the obvious link to the farcical humour of Monty Python, it’s an odd mix and, frankly, not one that works for me.
Gilliam, though clearly a proper film-maker – he has a vision all his own, which he effectively renders on screen and absolutely refuses to compromise with a view to gaining mainstream acceptance, two facets that must be applauded – at the same time manages to confuse and alienate many that otherwise consider themselves ‘cult’ aficionados.
With a veritable clutch of powerhouse British acting talent among the assembled participants – Jonathan Pryce, Ian Holm, Bob Hoskins, Michael Palin and Jim Broadbent, as well as the very much Italian American Robert De Niro – there is no denying the credibility of this work, though I can’t for one second say I enjoyed it.
A cult classic, in every conceivable sense of the phrase, this is one that didn’t float the boat here at Smell the Cult HQ, though I am still very, very glad it exists.
2 out of 5
No comments:
Post a Comment