Top Film for Each Year of My Life – 1985

Brazil

“Mistakes? We don't make mistakes.”

…And not the piece of shit “Love Conquers All” version, either.

But let’s face it. Yet again, the 80s comes up short in the greatness arena. “Sacrilege!" some will cry. After all, this is the year of Back to the Future! More than just nostalgia, that is a wonderful film. I wouldn’t knock anyone for picking it as the best. And the world got Tim Burton’s first feature in Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, a gleeful play on Bicycle Thieves and co-written by Phil Hartman. Lots of classic moments, but not enough to push it over the edge.

It could only be Brazil. A brilliantly realized world (one of Gilliam’s specialties) in the era of practical effects. If ever two films exhibited the inadequacies of CGI, one need look no further than Brazil and The Thing. But Brazil is far more than special effects. Gilliam, Tom Stoppard (yes, that Tom Stoppard), and frequent Gilliam collaborator Charles McKeown were nominated for the original screenplay Academy Award (I think I’m required to TM that phrase, but I’m mad at them for rarely reflecting my opinions, so screw it). If you want a reason to be excited for Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, it’s that Parnassus is the first script Gilliam and MeKeown have written together since the infamous and criminally underrated The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.
We don’t really think of Jonathan Pryce as a leading man, but turn as Sam Lowry, the sane man in an insane world, is exactly what the film needs to keep it grounded in reality. The rest of the cast gets to play around in absolutely bizarre roles, led, most surprisingly by Robert De Niro (Harry Tuttle). I would also be remiss if I didn’t include my personal favorite Python, Michael Palin as Jack Lint, who always seems to nail every role, no matter how small.

Brazil represents the epitome of what Gilliam can do. It’s equal parts Orwell and Monty Python (and a smattering of samba), but through Gilliam’s bizarre filter. I think that one of the problems with The Brother’s Grimm is that he was restrained. A film like that needs to feel like it could go off the rails at any time. Gilliam does that better than anyone else at his best (Time Bandits, Munchausen, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas). If there is one deficiency with Brazil, it’s that I haven’t seen it nearly enough.