Post date: 30-Nov-2017 15:09:18
Brazil by Terry Gilliam (1985)
Another classic, that I find clearly underestimated: Brazil by Terry Gilliam is probably my favorite dystopian fiction in cinema. Terry Gilliam, former Monthy Python, has an incredible visual universe and esthetic signature, that one can already perceive in the Monthy Python movies. What essentially I would like to underline here is how Brazil is indeed the quintessence of where the Monthy Python were going towards the end of their existence. If the beginning of this group was consisting of rather absurd sketches, and efficient jokes, they turned out to go further and further into some sort of absurd representation of the world. Slowly but surely, their humor shifted from clear parody (Holy Grail) to a twisted and absurd representation of reality, like in Meaning of Life. In this last movie, everything is pushed to the extreme, where administrations are even more sordid than reality, and humans even more pathetic. Brazil is the consistent and brilliant conclusion of this era (although it is NOT a Monthy Python movie). Applying this approach, a sort of absurd and meaningful distortion of reality, to a dystopian plot very similar to Orwell's 1984, Brazil is a crazy and inventive masterpiece. The visual creativity of Gilliam, former cartoonist, is completely unleashed here, and pleases us with fish-eyes, tracking shots, and a flourishing visual universe. The dissonance between the light-hearted crazy visual approach of Gilliam and the darkness of the plot gives a strange but highly emotional tone to this movie. If anything in particular deserved to be acclaimed in this movie, it is probably the end scene, which one of the most traumatizing I have ever seen. A pure lesson of cinema, an excessive filmmaking for some moments a pure genius.
Return to Forever by Chick Corea (1972)
After having talked loads about pure prog rock albums, I wanted to come back on Jazz fusion that I particularly fancy, and I ended up back on this record of Chick Corea, Return to Forever. One of the jazz fusion super-groups of the early 70s (with the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Weather Report, and the Head Hunters), Return to Forever is lead by former Miles Davis keyboardist Chick Corea, and has a very peculiar approach to this musical style. The main element of Corea's music is its Spanish influences, which blended with jazz and electric instruments, have a unique sound. It yields a highly melodic but yet very improvisational style of music, where the technical mastery of each band member allows to maintain this unstable structure. In particular, I have a particulate affection for Stanley Clarke, the bass player, whose incredibly skilled playing is blended with a high musical sensitivity, yielding a groovy and melodic bass playing. In that sense, I think Corea and Clarke are a perfect match, most of the songs sound like a dialogue between the two of them. The most magnificent moment in this dialogue is the 20 minutes medley covering face B, with in particular La Fiesta, which sounds like a Hispanic trance, a sort of tribal approach to jazz playing. An absolutely beautiful and inspiring record.