go go gilliam

[kath]

i haven't even *heard* of tideland or what it's about until this board. i'm so behind on everything, i swear. but i will be looking for it now.

http://film.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/C ... 70,00.html

thank you kindly.

[Carl's Son]

Terrys J and G did co-direct Holy Grail, not just the cartoons, but it led to so many arguments that for the others Jones directed and Gilliam handled the art direction.

The only Gilliam films that I don't like are Jabberwocky, which is patchy as hell and really drags, and The Brothers Grimm. Grimm was apparently fucked around a lot by Miramax but I'm not sure it would've been much good even if Gilliam had complete control. He allowed Damon and Ledger to talk him into letting him switch roles and play against type. It doesn't work.

I love Fear and Loathing though, it's stuffed with great images and there's a cumulative effect of this world that's created. I can't imagine what people think is wrong with it. I voted for Brazil but I actually think Tideland is right up there as well, it's a brilliant film.

[Ranking Ted]

Brazil is a genuine masterpiece, I think. Paranoid, Orwellian, deeply unhinged and surreal, it also packs a real emotional punch and the ending... The only other of his films that comes close is the excellent, wired 12 Monkeys, another dystopian headfuck.

The rest veer from the fun (Fear & Loathing, Fisher King, Time Bandits) to the baboozling or plain wrong. The Brothers Grimm gave me nightmares and I'm 36. Its not a good film but it is very unsettling in places and I genuinely feel sorry for any kids that get this as an alternative to Ice Age 2 or The Incredibles.

[The Modernist]

I love Fear and Loathing though, it's stuffed with great images and there's a cumulative effect of this world that's created. I can't imagine what people think is wrong with it.

I was lent it by a student years ago who thought it would be right up my street (what sort of impression such a student may have had of me, I'd rather not think). I could actually see why it would appeal to a 17 year old student who knew nothing about Thompson and the source material, he would certainly find it totally different to anything he'd seen before and wildly anarchic, attractive qualities at that age.
But for me..it was a brave try, but it didn't work. I felt it was trying too hard and its hysterical tone quickly became wearisome. Of course this aspect of the book's humour is levened by Thompson's oddly certain and determined tone as well as the book's deeper socio-cultural era defining sub-texts, neither of which the film comes close to really understanding. It has to be said Gilliam isn't helped by a Johnny Depp at his most wifully eccentric.
All of which leaves us with a kind of hyperactive Cheech and Chong for the CGI generation, which is an achievement of sorts I suppose.