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Terry Gilliam on His Epic New Dystopian Film the Zero Theorem
- everyone 12y agoI love Gilliam but imo this is one of his weakest films. My main beef with it is that not much happens in it, it seems repetitive. Also it is often illogical (ie. does not follow the fantastic logic already established in the film)
- Dirlewanger 12y agoAgreed. Waltz's character is just too aloof and annoying to give a shit about him, or why he's waiting for his call. Not too relateable from a protagonist perspective. The film is basically him being bothered the entire time by other people when he just wants to work at home.
- dmix 12y agoAs much as I love Terry Gilliam I find his films like Zero Theorem and even Brazil very challenging to watch the whole way through. I always think they are absolutely genius for the first 30 minutes or so then my interest always starts to slowly fade. Similar to most of the Monty Python films. It's like a desert you can only eat in small batches but delivered in full cake size.
- jonhohle 12y agoThe first time I watched Brazil I felt physically uncomfortable. I thought that was the point. I loved it.
- AznHisoka 12y agoThe ending was one of the few movie endings that left an emotional impact on me for awhile.
- Pxtl 12y ago... I disagree on the Monty Python films, I find they're generally well-paced and can be enjoyed all the way through. Gilliam's serious films, on the other hand - yeah. The main needs to listen to his editors. Every time I watch a Gilliam movie, especially a director's cut, I'm always frustrated how much his movies drag through the 2nd act. The man needs to learn some brevity, but at his age he's obviously made up his mind that the audiences need to absolutely wallow in his beautiful imagery.
- Fuzzwah 12y agoThose bits are for people in altered states. I posit that this has helped many of his films having incredible long tails thanks to their cult status.
- csdrane 12y agoAs someone who used to really enjoy dystopian themes, and who still does when done properly, the trope has become overused. "Epic new dystopian" film instead sounds like your standard "start out interesting for the first thirty minutes," and which then devolves into an hour or so of mindless fighting. Then again, Gilliam did do Brazil so maybe I'm wrong.
- mercurial 12y ago12 Monkeys too. His last films have been okayish, but this one looks pretty good.
- smutticus 12y agoI went to a Neal Stephenson talk where he argued that the main reason we see so many dystopian themed TV shows and movies is because they're cheap. He argued that it's cheaper to depict a dytopian future than a utopian one.
- Fuzzwah 12y agoOfficial trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rae7_O_6EtU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rae7_O_6EtU
- dawson 12y agoHD version http://youtu.be/RyMSRRNHRos http://youtu.be/RyMSRRNHRos
- terminalcommand 12y agoI totally recommend the movie to anyone who is interested in cultural films. The film scrutinizes our religious beliefs and is a huge eye opener. The only downside is the excessive use of semi-pornographic materials. The movie is a must for all the Lisp and Emacs hackers out there who embrace the hacker philosophy.
- etep 12y agoSo you're saying there is a self referential satire of the religion of lisp + emacs. That is good ;)
- liamgooding 12y agoPersonally I thought this was a great movie about remote working... The rest was totally lost on me
- alecco 12y agoI'm surprised this story got to front page on a SV-based forum where everybody feeds on techno-utopianism. Unsurprised about the negativity in the comments. You might not like the movie, but it is quite original and dares touch a lot of subjects most of the film industry can't articulate more than 1 at a time. I wonder how HN takes Black Mirror.
- badlucklottery 12y ago>I wonder how HN takes Black Mirror. Black Mirror is more of modern Twilight Zone. Really tight stories exploring a narrow ideas quite well. The only exception is probably "White Bear". Zero Theorem is kind of the opposite: it felt completely unfocused until the end. I usually hate characters that only exist to deliver exposition but I was thankful for Management's monologues and the dialog with Leth's supervisor. The story felt frozen in place whenever they weren't on-screen.
- dabernathy89 12y agoHonestly, it's hard for me to get past the cinematography with Gilliam's films. Way too many Dutch Angles and other funky things.