Terry Gilliam - C/D, S/D

"also her dog's asshole is taped shut for some reason"

"the ending is nice and then they ruin it"

August 8

Dear Sid:

Once upon a time you told me that you were not the one that put me in the chair at the end of "Brazil." I'm afraid that this is no longer true — unable as I am to think of anyone else who is directly responsible for my current condition. Your later offer to be the friend who becomes a torturer has more than come true. I am not sure you are aware of just how much pain you are inflicting, but I don't believe "responsibility to the company" in any way absolves you from crimes against even this small branch of humanity. As long as my name is on the film, what is done to it is done to me — there is no way of separating these two entities. I feel every cut, especially the ones that sever the balls. And I plead, whether they are done in the name of legitimate and responsible experiments or personal curiosity, if you really wish to make your version of "Brazil" then put your name on it. Then you can do what you like. "Sid Sheinberg's Brazil" has a nice ring to it. But, until that time, I shall continue to decline. Please let me know how much longer must I endure before the bleeding stops.

Deterioratingly yours,

Terry

c.c.: Jack Lint

http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/06/i-feel-every-cut.html

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7149/6395023359_c357e5f1f5_o.jpg
http://www.lettersofnote.com/2011/11/when-are-you-going-to-release-my-film.html

Gilliam's daughter Holly is digging into her father's archives and blogging about what she finds: http://hollydgilliam.blogspot.co.uk/

Nice!

John Justen wrote this on thread Terry Gilliam - C/D, S/D on board I Love Everything on 06-Jun-2007

OK SO TIDELAND IS THE WORST MOVIE EVER EVER EVER PRETTY MUCH.

This is coming from someone who has great respect for Gilliam in general, but seriously, dude, the next time you want to put yourself through some sort of aggressive theraputic "finding yourself as a child" bullshit, leave it for the Terry Gilliam home video collection.

This movie is irredeemable. I watched it last night, and I'm still angry about it.

yep

Did anybody manage to see the leaked Zero Theorem trailer before it was taken down?

Yeah, the film has a very Brazil vibe to it, albeit with lots of CG and heavy-handed humour. I liked Dr Parnassus, though, so none of it put me off.

parnassus was pretty good!

I still haven't seen Tideland, waiting for it to show up on cable or streaming or something. I know at least one person who thought it was excellent, weirdly

Parnassus was much better than I thought it would be, although it felt overly long and convoluted. obviously a bit of a cursed production, unfortunately.

re: ZT trailer: It at least looks as if David Thewlis has been given a decent role at last.

anyone remember his first film, 'jabberwocky'? they seemed to show it every week on comedy central in the mid-90s. i remember it being sort of like 'holy grail' without the jokes.

it was pretty much exactly that. it was ok. I watched like every movie any python was attached to at some point and it ranked somewhere in the middle. certainly lower than the movie Palin made with Maggie Smith

Here's a working link:

http://www.celebuzz.com/2013-06-25/watch-the-leaked-trailer-for-terry-gilliams-the-zero-theorem/

I've got to say it looks promising.

wow yes def looks promising

Looks very Brazil meets A.I.. One small reason I'm not looking forward to this is the last 15 years of Terry Gilliam. But man, those first 20 years ...

Here is the first trailer for The Zero Theorem, the latest film by noted weirdo Terry Gilliam, which stars noted weirdo Christoph Waltz. It's gonna be super weird and it looks super great as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eyY5InLYJPQ

hm. Let's try that again:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyY5InLYJPQ

BOO! to everyone who says Tideland is crap. BOO! I think it is a contender for his best film and I'm sure there were quite a few critics who loved it. Great performances, great film. I can understand why some might find some parts boring but I'm baffled why anyone would hate it.

Just saw Baron Munchausen today. I didn't bother with it for years assuming it would be so-so and I'd never heard much talk of it. But I loved it stuffed it was with visual designs and I laughed out loud several times. It really ought to be talked up more and be one of those films that all kids assume each other have seen*. Oliver Reed's part was really great.

I assume his new film is being talked about on another thread?

* When I was a kid I actually found these fantasy films too depressing and disturbing but I hope I was a minority on that.

Tideland is way too terrible to just be crap, so maybe we agree

tideland is exactly what happends when a gifted sensory director went out of his way to devise shitness on screen and excels himself

Could you guys at least say why you didn't like the film. All I can find on this thread are complete disapproval with no elaboration or saying it didn't match up to some pre-conceived wishes (comparing it to Reflecting Skin, which was an interesting film but I've never really got the huge love for Philip Ridley's 3 films).

Someone did say they thought the lead performance was poor.

I really love it, I think it's a real bummer that there aren't more films like this and that lots of people obviously discourage it. I saw Brothers Grimm recently and was really surprised he could make something that poor and conventional, although it did ha e some good visuals.

Yep, Tideland is fucking great. I just saw it now. Y'all afraid of what's there.

(and the central performance is absolutely incredible, what the hell are you all on)

My conclusion is that ILX and most movie critics are terrified of narrowly-prepubescent girls, and what happens inside their heads, especially when they're exposed to terrible shit in their lives

I need to watch this again, but my feeling is that most people, critics or otherwise, like movies that make them feel good (about themselves). Something that's dark, twisted, bizarre, etc -- unless your personal aesthetic resonates with that, you're probably going to hate it. It's not like Tim Burton (when people used to actually rep for him), where the dark twistedness merely serves gothic loners who are actually super cool albeit misunderstood. What I remember of Tideland is closer to unresolved, unapologetic darkness.

I violently despise everything Tim Burton has ever done. Tideland, however, is a film where shit gets real. I think every difficult topic was approached humanely, perceptively and honestly, with plenty of ambiguity and sympathy for each character. I was riveted. If you felt uncomfortable watching it, then it probably hit on something you'd rather keep repressed.

how can you despise Pee Wee???

i'm guessing it hits on something he'd rather keep repressed

:D

ach, i forgot he did that. it wasn't terrible i spose. edward scissorhands otoh anyway let's stop this sidetrack

If you're looking for a comparison, I found this from IMDB to ring brilliantly true:

I keep thinking of Pan's Labyrinth, which was so critically lauded while Tideland was so despised. PL's an okay movie, but it's a cynical adult tale of childhood, detached in its understanding and sort of heartless and cruel. The problem is that there is such an obvious disconnect between reality and the imaginary world. They exist separately. Of course, the Spanish Civil War setting is really no more real that Ofelia's own world, no less cartoonish than the world of Tideland. But it tries so hard to be harsh and gritty. It is just so difficult for me to *buy* Pan's Labyrinth, to take it seriously OR to NOT take it seriously. Tideland is a story about a real person living in a believable (or at least buyable)world. And I suspect that this is why Pan's Labyrinth is so critically lauded while Tideland is so critically despised - because it is unwilling to offend. Also, where PL is unfathomably ugly, Tideland is quite beautiful.

I love Tideland, Pan's Labyrinth and several Tim Burton films.

Glad you appreciated it Imago.

Is Zero Theorem discussed elsewhere or did nobody see it?

I've seen it. Blogged about it. Didn't like it, it's attempts at satire makes Gilliam seem very old.

Hamfisted is the kindest thing i can think of to describe gilliams insistence that a childhood of chaotic squalor leads to a quirky no-nonsense magical outlook maaaaan. Dude's clumsy as anything in his hammering home of his limited thematic range, and the boundary pushing desperation in tideland didnt strike me as anything more profound than that.

Kid was great tho. As was teengimp.

What part was boundary pushing? It might be disturbing to Norman McNormalson but I don't think he was trying to be disturbing. And I don't think the film had a specific message. It doesn't need one.

Are you people goddamn fucking kidding me with this Tideland approaching dark truths and u can't handle it bullshit wtf

It's not just the worst move he's done, it's the worst movie a director that I had any respect for has ever done. I can't articulate why partially because I refuse to ever sit through it again, and the first time I was blinded with rage.

I don't buy the "dark truths" thing but I still think it's his best film.

Jjjusten says "the first time I was blinded with rage"

You mean blind to the dark truths, haha.

I think what the film does well is viewing a strange situation with a fresh (even if you might call it distorted) eye. "Truth" doesn't really matter, it's just a way of viewing of things that is a bit different or refreshing and that gives you a springboard to try and look at the events in the film or anything else a bit differently, whether for intellectual reasons or just for pleasure.
In terms of Gilliam talking about the film, I think the most interesting thing he said is that the main girl might grow up and look back at that time as the best week of her life or it might be viewed more traumatically.

As I recall it is a 4 hour movie about a corpse farting. Hilarious.

Shit movie is good example of why artists need constraints.

In terms of Gilliam talking about the film, I think the most interesting thing he said is that the main girl might grow up and look back at that time as the best week of her life or it might be viewed more traumatically

so true xxxxx

So true of any moment ever in anyone's life. Vaguely profound.

yeah, was wondering how to read that. If Gilliam meant he'd intended that "the main girl *would* grow up and look back at that time as the best week of her life, or (else filmgoers) might be view (the events) more traumatically (than they should)", I would find it interesting.

Great movie is an example of why Gilliam doesn't need constraints. I don't know what the circumstances of Brothers Grimm was but it seemed calculatedly conventional in many ways but I guess that doesn't necessarily say that constraints do him bad or good.

There was a short film he did that was an advertisement or something and some people called him a sell out for it, especially considering his previous critiques of big business (according to them, I don't know much about his political statements).
The product placement in Parnassus bothered me a lot but I assumed that maybe that was used to get the film finished but I can't remember if it was in the Ledger scenes.

still haven't watched this because so many people thought it was so terrible and offensive and bad. I do have it though, sitting on my hard drive. Too bad about Zero Theorem sounding not good, because it sounded good when I first heard about it. I quite liked Parnassus.

i thought parnassus patchy but really great in places

yeah it was too long but it was much better than I expected it to be