Brazil
First screened in December 2000 / Most recently screened in August 2025

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Director: Terry Gilliam. Cast: Jonathan Pryce, Kim Greist, Ian Holm, Michael Palin, Robert De Niro, Bob Hoskins, Peter Vaughan, Katherine Helmond, Ian Richardson, Barbara Hicks, Kathryn Pogson, Sheila Reid, Bryan Pringle. Screenplay: Terry Gilliam, Tom Stoppard, and Charles McKeown.

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Photo © 1985 Universal Pictures / Embassy International Pictures

In Brief: Prodigious, if also top-heavy, in concept and execution. Captures both the fierce and shaggy aspects of authoritarianism.

VOR: ⑤  Visually, thematically, and structurally hell-for-leather at a time when almost no wide(ish) releases dared. Ongoing influence across genres.

Grade: B+

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Academy Award Nominations:
	Best Original Screenplay: Terry Gilliam, Tom Stoppard, Charles McKeown
	Best Art Direction & Set Decoration: Norman Garwood; Maggie Gray
Other Awards:
	Los Angeles Film Critics Association: Best Picture; Best Director; Best Screenplay
	Boston Society of Film Critics: Best Supporting Actor (Holm; also for Dance with a Stranger, Dreamchild, and Wetherby); Special Commendation (Garwood)
	British Academy Awards (BAFTAs): Best Production Design (Garwood); Best Special Visual Effects (George Gibbs, Richard Conway)

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