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TERRY GILLIAM - BIOGRAPHY

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TIAGOALVES//SÍLVIAPERALTA DCM - ESAP

For most of Terry Gilliam’s early career, fans of the popular comedy show Monty Python’s Flying Circus assumed that he was British, since Python’s other five members were natives of Britain. But the innova-tive animator and future director, who spent more time behind the scenes than in front of the cam-era, was actually the troupe’s only American member. Born in Minne-apolis, Minnesota, on November 22, 1940, Gilliam was briefly employed by Mad Magazine as a writer/illus-trator before he emigrated to Eng-land in 1967. Soon after he arrived in the U.K., he began working on Do Not Adjust Your Set, a popular children’s TV show, developing his eccentric animated cartoons, which put into motion a hodgepodge of images, including photographs, cut-outs from magazines, and famous

works of art. Gilliam’s contribu-tions to the show were geared more toward adults, as his surrealistic stream-of-consciousness segments, drenched in black humor, were be-yond the grasp of most children. In 1969, Gilliam was asked to join the absurdist comedy troupe Monty Python. In addition to writing for Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Gil-liam also contributed his animated interludes, for which he was pretty much left to his own devices; the other Pythons just told him how much time he needed to fill and never gave him any narrative di-rection. Gilliam began offering his iconoclastic vision to moviegoers with the comedy troupe’s first origi-nal film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), which he co-directed with fellow Python Terry Jones. An instant cult classic, the movie

BIOGRAPHY Terry Gilliam

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contained all the requisite Python elements: absurdist humor, self-referential parody, and extremely quotable dialogue. The following year, Gilliam had his first outing as a solo director with Jabberwocky (1976). Based on the poem by Lewis Carroll, the film featured a medieval largely stayed away. Following Jabberwocky’s relative failure, Gilliam regrouped with his fellow Pythonites, co-creating The Life of Brian, the tale of a man with the misfortune of being confused with Jesus Christ. He left the direct-ing duties to Terry Jones, focusing on animation, screenwriting, and acting. Gilliam returned to direct-ing with Time Bandits (1979), a sur-real journey through history led by a small boy and several dwarves. Bearing many similarities to Jabber-wocky, Time Bandits relied less on

repetition and moved the audience more briskly from one scene to the next. It did well at the box office and put Gilliam in the ranks of directors to watch. After co-directing with Terry Jones the third and final Python film, Monty Python’s the Meaning of Life (1983), Gilliam made what many people consider his masterpiece, the dystopian satire Brazil (1985). In-stead of journeying back to the Mid-dle Ages, Gilliam boldly predicted a retro-1930s future of anonymous office drones commanded by an all-powerful computer. Blindingly im-aginative, the film starred Jonathan Pryce as Sam Lowery, who attempts to escape the stifling bureaucratic system by fantasizing about being a superhero, and later by actually bat-tling and plentifully indulge. With melting faces, a lounge full of hu-man-sized lizards, bats flying in the desert, and a demon with breasts on its back, the movie didn’t need and didn’t really have a plot. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was the defi-nition of a love-it-or-hate-it movie. In 2000, the director began working on Good Omens, a comedy/fantasy based on the book Good Omens: or, The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, a humorous story about the apocalypse. Though this endeavour would ultimately fall by the wayside, it proved nothing in com. Johnny Depp as the author’s alter ego, Raoul Duke. The movie was the perfect vehicle for Gil-liam to create an alternate universe fueled by the mind-bending sub-stances in which the lead characters freely and plentifully indulge. With melting faces, a lounge full of hu-man-sized lizards, bats flying in the desert, and a demon with breasts on its back, the movie didn’t need and didn’t really have a plot. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was the defi-nition of a love-it-or-hate-it movie. In 2000, the director began working on Good Omens, a comedy/fantasy based on the book Good Omens: or, The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Neil GaimanThe Nice and Accurate Prophecies of The Nice and Accurate Prophe-cies of, a humorous story about the apocalypse. Though this endeavour om. apocalypse. Though this en-deavour would ultimately fall by the wayside, it proved nothing in com..



FEAR AND LOTHING IN LAS VEGASA gonzo journalist and his crazed lawyer take a road trip to Vegas to cover a sporting event. Sadly, ugs that they took care to pack mean that they get somewhat distracted en route.

REVIEWPut yourself in Terry Gilliam’s shoes for a moment. As the director of the hugely anticipated adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s classic counterculture novel, you are handed a project which has been branded “unfilma-ble” by Hollywood for more than quarter of a century, a budget which requires the aid of a magnifying glass, one previous owner - Brit director Alex Cox who jumped ship when the oft-cited “creative differences” reared their ugly head - and an absentee landlord in Thompson himself, whose main interests amount to drinking heav-ily, firing shotguns or doing both simultaneously.



VERDICTVisually incredible and blessed with great performances from Depp and Del Toro, this is destined for cult clas-sic status - but the plot d Del Toro, this is destined for cult classic status - but the plot and symbolism are less impressive.

The fact that anywhere on earth would resemble Hell if you digested 73 pellets of mescaline, a salt shaker full of cocaine and a pint of raw ether goes unnoticed be-cause Gilliam has crafted scene after scene of hallucina-tory brilliance, some of which - melting carpets, a literal lounge lizard attack - ranks among his most bizarre and best imagery to date.



Review

The last hurrah from the Monty Python team is seen as a lesser ac-complishment than Life Of Brian and Holy Grail, too piecemeal and unfocused, but it possesses some of their most iconic musings and inspired madness. Terry Gilliam, for one, was up to his usual excesses launching the film with a fifteen minute story within the story, com-plete with all his operatic surreal-ism, involving accountants as literal pirates whose very office blocks lift anchor. He was also spending all the money, to least effect. Once the film begins proper, it flits from skit to ragged skit, rash with vulgarity if short on the nimbleness of their great TV days. Taste is sensibly abandoned, and when they hit they really strike a chord. John Cleese as a prissy pub-lic school master teaching sex to his bored pupils by shagging his wife

in class; the one-sided kids versus teachers rugby match; exploding fatty Mr. Creosote (Jones), and Death making an unforeseen appearance at an awfully nice dinner party. And

there’s no discounting the musical inspiration of the epic number Every Sperm Is Scared, glinting with anti-



Catholic edges. And as usual Gilliam pu collective mania is sorely missed here is just an air of reckless self-satisfaction (especially with that opening salvo), but their collective mania is sorely missed ing salvo), mania is sorely missed.





MONTHY PYTHON THE HOLLY GRAIL



Review

There’s something about feature films that brings out the best in the Pythons. The occasional indul-gence of the TV series is replaced by a more focused approach which wrings every conceivable joke out of a given subject.

While Holy Grail falls short of Life Of Brian’s comic masterpiece status, it has more than enough killer lines, sight gags and inspired absurdity to qualify as a medieval-on-your-ass laff-riot.

Highlights include an encounter with a homicidal bunny, Launcelotís misguided wedding guest massacre, Michael Palin’s bolshy Of The Lake (‘some moistened bint’), and, of

course, the use of coconut shells in place of actual trusty steeds.

A medieval-on-your-ass laff-riot

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King Arthur and his knights embark on a low-budget search for the Grail, encountering many very silly obsta-cles.



THE BROTHERS

GRIMM

French-occupied Germany, 1812. Bogus witch-hunters Wilhelm (Damon) and Jacob (Ledger) Grimm are sent by psychotic French general Delatombe (Pryce) — who has discovered their scam — to uncover another suspected ersatz spook plot involving missing children.

REVIEWTerry Gilliam’s always had some-thing of a Grimm sensibility — his early movies had a grimy, cruelly comical fairy-tale feel, something that’s infected much of his work

ever since. So the pairing of Gilliam with the titular story-weaving sib-lings should have formed the per-fect match for the director’s long-awaited return to the big screen.

Gilliam die-hards may be pleased to

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hear that that this fanciful fiction-alisation of the Grimms’ early years couldn’t have been made by anyone else — it’s as ‘Gilliam’ a movie as Sleepy Hollow was a ‘Burton’. But, vie he never made between Jabber-wocky and Time Bandits.

VERDICTGilliam at his best and his worst. His unleashed imagination yields some astounding results, but a lack of

structural discipline and Stormare’s risible Cavaldi mean this is nothing more than an entertaining mess.



THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS

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Terry Gilliam’s latest carries an unfair burden. Where once it could have been remembered simply for being the direc-tor’s most imaginative and engaging film for some time, it has now, given that it features the final performance of Heath Ledgnd Andrew Garfield give attention-catching performances as, respectively, the ancient showman’s daughter who is made the prize in a bargain with the devil, and the actor who loves her. We’ve previously seen Garfield shine dramati-cally in Lions For Lambs and the Red Rid-ing trilogy, but here he shows something new: an ability to be simultaneously bi-zarre and believable as the herald into Parnassus’ strange world. Anyone look-ing for Britain’s next best actor should look no furthbut by caring so much about the story as a whole that he’s awoken something within himself and produced his most interesting work in over a decade.

us and the Red Riding trilogy, but here he shows something new: an ability to be simultaneously bizarre and believa-ble as the herald into Parnassus’ strange world. Anyone looking for the end — but it’s a directing achievement to be ap-plauded. To lose one of your leads part-way through shooting and then have the creative intelligence to retool the movie in a way that still makes sense — at least within its surreal terms — shows the kind of weirdo tenacity that made Gilliam so interesting before years of bad luck and bad studios seemed to wear him down. It’s to his distinct credit that it’s hard to see how this would have worked differ-ently if Ledger had played the entirety of the role. It’s possible it may even have been a lesser film. Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell each briefly play Tony when he steps inside the ever-changing wonderland of the Imaginarium, enhanc-ing its anything-goes otherworldliness while also suggesting that Tony is a man who is not all he seems. It’s a stylistic trick born out of tragedy, but it’s one of the story’s strongest points. staras a whole that he’s awoken somethi

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REVIEWFollowing the hideously compro-mised The Brothers Grimm, Terry Gilliam rushed into this from-the-heart adaptation of Mitch Cul-lin’s creepy novel. It’s a film with a unique feel, evoking Alice In Won-derland, To Kill A Mockingbird and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, but despite a remarkable, star-mak-ing performance from 11 year-old Jodelle Ferland, it struggles to hold the attention. While Ferland is a perfect innocent, nestling in her father’s embalmed arms and chatting with the severed dolls’ heads who are her closest friends, the grown-up actors get so far into their bizarre characters that they’re hard to endure. Jennifer Til-ly is so excruciating in her brief per-formance that the film almost gets better when she’s dead, only for Ja-net McTeer and Brendan Fletcher to show up doing equally grating mad-person acts.

TIDELAND

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As has too often been the case, Gil-liam works so hard on the wonderful details — see-sawing camerawork, dilapeeds better advice, or else she’ll be doing giant snake films in Bulgaria before her bat-mitzvah.

As has too often been the case, Gil-liam works so hard on the wonderful details — see-sawing camerawork, dilapidated but magical art direc-tion, flights of grimy fantasy — that the f talented FerlHill, needs better advice, or before her bat-mitzvahas

TIDELAND



As has too often been the case, Gil-liam works so hard on the wonderful details — see-sawing camerawork, dilapeeds better advice, or else she’ll be doing giant snake films in Bulgaria before her bat-mitzvah.

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