★★★★★ 4
Beautiful, glorious, and depressing but not without levity
Probably Gilliams most serious film, a story of a dreamer in a dystopian bureaucratic future, plagued by monotony and endless paperwork, our protagonist (played by Jonathan Pryce) isn't sure what he wants in his life, but he knows he wants something different. When the Department of Information Retrieval disappears the wrong person (played by Robert De Niro), our hero goes to reimburse the widow and discovers a woman living in the same building who looks like the woman out of his dreams (played by Kim Greist).
Really stellar performances by Pryce, and a gaggle of supporting actors such as Ian Holm, Michael Palin, Kathrine Helmond, and Bob Hoskins. Greists performance is probably the weakest, but she does enough for the role that the critique of it amounts to a nit pick really.
While this film is considered a cult classic, I would qualify it even less and say its just a classic, full of symbolism with a increasingly repressive tone throughout balanced by Gilliams puncturing, dark humor.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2024