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I know I'm the umpteenth person to say this but: the LCA version has atrocious editing.

Putting aside the obvious that someone else who wasn't involved in the production from the start was working on making it into something that it wasn't intended to be, the whole thing is a mess. Cutaways are relied on way too much and I don't think it was just to mask story edits. The whole thing moves at a more frenzy pace it seems but not in a way that makes sense (considering you are dealing with a film that's supposed to be a "dysfunctional dystopia", that makes it even more confusing). Also the use and non-use of music is quite arbitrary and often works against the scene. A good example of that one is when Sam is arguing with his mother while Dr. Jaffe does his template preparation: the original version had music that emphasizes more his mother's romantic fantasies; the LCA has no music and makes it way more detached - dare I say, clinical - and lifeless ... which is odd because she's at an opulent, Xanadu-like locale.

All in all, if someone wanted to make their film, start over from page one of a script and take it from there. It would have saved everyone the trouble later =]

The arbitrariness of the LCA cut's music spotting might have something to do with the fact that one of the changes Sid Scheinberg wanted to make was replacing most or all of Michael Kamen's score with pop music (just as he had Jerry Goldsmith's score for Legend replaced with a new one by Tangerine Dream earlier the same year). Strangely music-less portions of the film could be indications of where new music was planned. Of course it's also important to remember that the Love Conquers All version was never really 100% finished, so it's possible some of the more awkward edits might have been cleaned up. Not that the film ever would have made a lick of sense in that cut, of course.

Kirkinson wrote:The arbitrariness of the LCA cut's music spotting might have something to do with the fact that one of the changes Sid Scheinberg wanted to make was replacing most or all of Michael Kamen's score with pop music (just as he had Jerry Goldsmith's score for Legend replaced with a new one by Tangerine Dream earlier the same year). Strangely music-less portions of the film could be indications of where new music was planned. Of course it's also important to remember that the Love Conquers All version was never really 100% finished, so it's possible some of the more awkward edits might have been cleaned up. Not that the film ever would have made a lick of sense in that cut, of course.

That does explain the "that film wouldn't be released in 1985" stance.

Interesting that Kamen was going to be booted from Brazil, and the same year he was eomployed by Tristar to partly re-score Lifeforce.

Especially interesting considering Paramount insisted on using him for The Dead Zone because Howard Shore wasn't that well-proven beyond his previous work with Cronenberg. It turned out well enough because it's one of Kamen's best.

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The movie this most reminds me of is, believe it or not, Burton's Batman. Two futuristic worlds that seem paradoxically stuck in the past (seemingly the 1940s). Tho' while Burton's movie is about two grotesques battling for the soul of a corrupt city, Gilliam's is more about the failure of the world to live up to the dream of good battling evil. There is no villain the monstrous dream-samurai can stand in for (the evil is hopelessly abstracted into a faceless system), so there is no way for Sam Lowry to be a hero. Even Tuttle is only a gadfly in the system.

Tim Burton absolutely told Batman production designer Anton Furst to analyze this film.

I was watching Walter Hill’s Wild Bill and thinking of how Gilliam had initially settled on Ellen Barkin playing Jill Layton and came to immensely regret casting Griest as a result of her weak performance and personality clashes. Barkin exudes personality and life in her roles in a way that I have never seen Griest deliver. Her work in Blake Edwards’ Switch, where she plays a body-swapped man, is simply one of my favorite performances ever.

4K upgrade in June

DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
New 4K digital restoration of Terry Gilliam’s director’s cut, supervised and approved by Gilliam, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and two Blu-rays with the film and special features
Audio commentary by Gilliam
What Is “Brazil”?, Rob Hedden’s on-set documentary
The Production Notebook, a collection of interviews and video essays, featuring a trove of Brazil-iana from Gilliam’s personal collection
The Battle of “Brazil,” a documentary about the film’s contentious release, hosted by Jack Mathews and based on his book of the same name
“Love Conquers All” version, the studio’s ninety-four-minute, happy-ending cut of Brazil, with commentary by Brazil expert David Morgan
Trailer
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
PLUS: An essay by film critic David Sterritt

Cover based on a theatrical poster

They haven't updated the screen captures below have they? Or are images of the new 4k restoration also this rough?

EDIT: Never mind. They have now. Looks gorgeous.

OK this is my 4th time buying & I think I've requested Mulvaney) for it 2x over the years, but alas still no EU/UK trailer (black & white open and switches to color half way through) only the inferior US trailer. Guess I will have to continue keeping my French digibook. ](*,)

These new screen caps are interesting. I thought the cold, sterile colors were supposed to be dystopic, but the warmer and more saturated color timing actually works better with the extravagant creativity and richness of the set design and cinematography.

onedimension wrote: Fri Jun 06, 2025 8:20 pm These new screen caps are interesting. I thought the cold, sterile colors were supposed to be dystopic, but the warmer and more saturated color timing actually works better with the extravagant creativity and richness of the set design and cinematography.

The new colors appear to be in line with Gilliam’s intentions. Someone at the other forum collected various statements he made about his desired look but unfortunately that got buried amongst endless, childish “it’s all revisionist teal” blabbering from sock accounts made by banned members. What I remember is that Gilliam was inspired by German expressionist art and wished to create particular contrasts in the colors. With the new metallic blues and overtly warm yellows and oranges, it seems the colorist was able to execute what was intended. A shame that the DP died last year and couldn’t validate the grade any more.

nicolas wrote: Fri Jun 06, 2025 10:28 pm

onedimension wrote: Fri Jun 06, 2025 8:20 pm These new screen caps are interesting. I thought the cold, sterile colors were supposed to be dystopic, but the warmer and more saturated color timing actually works better with the extravagant creativity and richness of the set design and cinematography.

The new colors appear to be in line with Gilliam’s intentions. Someone at the other forum collected various statements he made about his desired look but unfortunately that got buried amongst endless, childish “it’s all revisionist teal” blabbering from sock accounts made by banned members. What I remember is that Gilliam was inspired by German expressionist art and wished to create particular contrasts in the colors. With the new metallic blues and overtly warm yellows and oranges, it seems the colorist was able to execute what was intended. A shame that the DP died last year and couldn’t validate the grade any more.

I saw those statements eventually, too. It's actually fantastic in motion, almost transformative. Unusually canyon-sized gap between "A" and "A+"