Best Film by Terry Gilliam

LAM-SGC wrote: I never liked Monty Python either. Definitely not my cup of tea.

micky wrote: Atavachron wrote: 12 Monkeys is a real piece of sh*t.   . *spits coffee all over monitor* God I love that movie...  I'll have to remember this for when we do finally get together.. I'll add this to the Ozzy/Rhodes saving metal for our over dinner and drinks talks hahah

Atavachron wrote: I am assuredly not a Gilliam fan, can't think of one film I really like:  Brazil is overrated, Fisher King jut ain't that great, Fear & Loathing is depraved, and 12 Monkeys is a real piece of sh*t.   It's always form over function with him, and that's a mistake.

Sorry in advance if I'm misunderstanding your intent or talking at cross-purposes, and I have not given it enough thought methinks. It did get me thinking, but when I get thinking, it's usually me thinking badly. There is a lot to ponder in your concise post.

Objectively good or not, overrated or not, I love his films, especially Brazil, and that's what matters most to me. His approach right back to being an animator with Monty Python has been very much about style, and I don't think that was a mistake (or whatever the precise mistake is that you're illuminating). I think that's his strength, and had he tried a different approach I rather doubt that he would have been so successful, so well-known or thought of as highly by many (it's better to be overrated by many than hardly rated at all). I would also expect that he's been influential on successful directors such as Jeunet, Burton, del Toro and Wes Anderson (I don't have research to back that up, but I'd be very surprised if I was altogether wrong). I would expect that he in turn has been influenced by the likes of Fellini, Luis Buñuel, Hitchcock and Kubrick, as well as Chris Marker for La Jetée which I do remember inspired 12 Monkeys, and I expect that various of those probably were influences on the other directors I mentioned as well.

Incidentally, I know you said form over function which would be rather like style over substance, I guess, but the common "form follows function" saying is based on the architect Louis Sullivan's "form ever follows function" in the late 1800s.

He wrote:

"Whether it be the sweeping eagle in his flight, or the open apple-blossom, the toiling workhorse, the blithe swan, the branching oak, the winding stream at its base, the drifting clouds, over all the coursing sun, form ever follows function, and this is the law. Where function does not change form does not change. The granite rocks, the ever-brooding hills, remain for ages; the lightning lives, comes into shape, and dies in a twinkling."

I would say that the form of Gilliam's films do fit the function, and in a sense that the function is the form rather like the medium is the message, if that makes sense. He is a very visuals driven director, as are many of my favourites, and I think he does a great job of it.

Not everyone will like his films, and he hasn't had the commercial success of many directors, but if he's been a failure in his approach or by most whatever metric when it comes to being a filmmaker, man that's the kind of failure that I could have only dreamed to be when I dreamed of becoming a filmmaker. Brazil's surrealism, its black comedy, the way it evoked Orwell and Kafka, to me it is brilliantly executed (there were studio pains to be sure, as with other works by him). And Sam Lowry (love Jonathan Pryce in that) is one of my very favourite characters in cinema.

Edited by Logan - February 10 2019 at 07:20

oh dear God..   now I really wish I had a line of cocaine.. the hell with the J 

Edited by micky - February 10 2019 at 09:48

I have soft spot in my heart for Baron Munchausen and Time Bandits. The one-liners are a real treat, particularly since I saw both as a teenager upon their release.

I can't believe mine is the only vote for Time Bandits. 

The only one that stood out for me from what I've seen was Brazil - crazy ending!

Damn.  I can't believe I haven't seen anything after Fear and Loathing.  I have a lot of catching up to do.  I piled on Brazil.

Snicolette wrote: I'm voting for Jabberwocky, re Terry Gilliam films,  although I've not seen every one here (about 1/3).  A Clockwork Orange was stunning and chilling at the same time.