The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

And this week's Friday Night movie has been... The Adventures of Baron Munchausen!

Original image located here. Accessed 7th April 2023

I said I will be watching more movies from the mind of Terry Gilliam so here we are. Thing is, I have a bit of a history with this one: When I was younger, I heard it was one of the biggest box office flops of all time. Then one day, when I was 11, it was on TV so I watched the start of it. But for whatever reason I never got around to watching the rest of it. Well, today that changes: I will sit through this movie all the way to the end.

You know I have seen some weird movies in my time but this one manages to stand out from the rest purely because it revels in it's weirdness. And having seen Brazil earlier this year, it is interesting to compare the two movies as both take a playful approach to the distinction between fantasy and reality. The only difference is that this movie is a lot more humourous (and therefore owes the greater debt to Gilliam's background with Monty Python).
I certainly get what this was going for in that being a rebel against a society that preaches facts, favouring imagination over truth and living a life of wonder over reason. Subsequently, i can think of more than a few people who would hate this movie. XD
So yeah, this one is creative indeed, showing that, once again, the eighties were a fertile time for fantasy movies and Terry Gilliam is at the top of his game.

Brazil

And this week's Friday Night movie has been... Brazil!

Original image located here. Accessed 10th March 2023

Lets talk about Terry Gilliam for a moment.
For me there are two sides to Terry Gilliam. One is the member of Monty Python. the other is the filmmaker. And while I am certainly familiar with the former, it is the latter that is alien to me. From the outset, Terry Gillian is a filmmaker that makes bizarre movies that tend to be box office flops.
Still, I have seen two films of his: Monty Python and the Holy Grail (which is still funny no matter how times I've seen it) and 12 Monkeys (which baffled teenage me). So let us take a look at one of Terry's best known movies then, shall we?

Watching this movie it soon becomes clear that this is not the most comprehensible thing in the world. The plot is indeed confusing and semes to take many hard turns that it is difficult to keep up.
But really let's be honest: the film's strengths are in it's visuals, conveying a dystopian society loaded with jabs at bureaucracy and an oppressive atmosphere. The art direction is incredible, what with towering cityscapes and many crazy devices of varying usefulness. There certainly is a business to this film with a lot going on and little details that are one can't help but pick up on them.
So yeah, what this movie lack in plot engagement it more than makes up for it in creativity and some truly dark humour. It's like 1984 if George Orwell took a lot more acid
Perhaps I should explore more of Terry Gilliam's oeuvre....