Daniel Robert Epstein: Terry Gilliam

good interview.

Tideland is not one of his best films, i'm afraid to say. i read the book last year when i heard Gilliam was adapting; i enjoyed the story and would recommend it to friends but Cullin's prose is not amazing and it would probably not be a particularly memorable novel were it not for the Gilliam affiliation. i kinda hoped he would take the book and expand it into something greater, but the film is really just a very faithful rendering, which is good and bad. maybe i'll like it more when i see it again. it is easy to criticise new Gilliam films as they emerge because they are compared (inevitably) to films like Brazil and Munchausen which are now considered minor masterpieces...

there were quite a few walkouts when i saw it last month. the sex scene in the shack opened the floodgates; after the first idiot got up n left, others evidently felt that let them off... dudes, you just paid 7 quid, stay til the end?!

Brazil is not considered a minor masterpiece at all. it is one of our greatest films in general

i say minor because in my experience the film doesn't inhabit popular consciousness, thus it is not widely considered a major masterpiece such as, say, Goodfellas. but anyway i guess it's all a matter of opinion.

Brazil does inhabit popular consciousness though, everyone has seen that film. it used to be on TV all the time. But since Criterion first put out the definitive directors version on laserdisc it doesnt get played on television as much anymore

well i did say in my experience... this must be a UK/US discrepancy thing. i fuckin wish everyone in England had seen Brazil! sadly not the case.

i realize you said "in my experience" but then you said popular consciousness which implies something larger than your experience

maybe your just not hanging with the right people

it would be hard for me to imagine that an Oscar nominated movie by a member of Monty Python wouldnt be very popular in the UK
especially since Dreams the Terry Gilliam fanzine is based out of the UK.

also Tom Stoppard is a very well known playwright and he co-wrote it

christ even Clockwise and Yellowbeard have followings over there

I do so adore Gilliam. One of my favorite filmmakers. He's a hero to me.

Oh I can't wait to see it!!!

Zounds! Terry Gilliam!

Great interview, with my absolute hero!
I haven't seen the film yet - i was ten minutes too late to get a special preview screening with Gilliam in attendence but they sold out. Myabe one of the bigger disappointments of my life!
Plan to see it soon anyway, I'm really looking forward to it. I don't care if everyone in the theatre walks out and I'm left front row-centre on my own!
If I can one day make films that are a patch on his, I'll die happy!
=)

Oh, Gilliam you wiley bastard. I so love you.

I can see what Huck is saying about Brazil. I have seen it, and my borfriend. We own the giant Criterion box set and adore it, but not one of my friends has seen it or even heard of it. Still a masterpiece in my heart tho.

well the people i hang with are like me; they know about films and have retentive minds for the names of all involved, the background of the film, etc., but that's certainly not normal. i also happen to know a lot of people who don't have a clue. maybe it's the case that you only know like-minded people.

i don't think "in my experience" and "popular consciousness" is a contradiction. all i'm saying is when the subject of Brazil comes up and/or i mention it to someone, the people who recognise the name are knowledgable film buffs. trust me, your average person over here does not know that contemporary filmmaker Terry Gilliam was a founding Python. and sure they've seen Twelve Monkeys but they probably wouldn't know Gilliam directed, let alone be able to list some more of his films.

i am not just trying to make a point here. i think it's reasonable to assume that i know more about cultural awareness (as i've encountered it) in the UK. after all, i am consistently disappointed!

well i was thinking about this last night

it could be an age thing. both you and meli are under 25. i grew up watching Monty Python on MTV late sunday nights. Young Ones and then python.

yeah i'm sure that must come into it, though i too grew up with Python (reruns, admittedly!). could it have something to do with Gilliam being American? could that explain a greater Stateside cognizance of his role in MP, and an Amercian audience's following?

maybe that's a little obtuse.

anyway, Gilliam rules. looking forward to Tideland DVD. good job getting another cool face on SG.

here is what Terry Jones told me
http://suicidegirls.com/interviews/Terry+Jones+of+Monty+Python/

DRE: Obviously the Monty Python guys are very iconic in American and even more so in the UK.

TJ: No, I'd say it was probably bigger in the States than it was over here.

Ummmmmm...I just wanted to say Thanks for the killer interview again, as always, (You BASTARD!)

It's interesting, But I was just watching one of his 'newer' fliks last night (12 MONKEYS) and even tho it goes against all my being to applause Bruce Willis, I have always thought that this was one film that he earned his stripes in, with a great amount of help from Brad Pitt. But the conversation got into Gilliam's use of Time, and it's non-linear 'auteaur' qualities I have always seen in his films, and Yes, BRAZIL is the best damned thing that ever happened to this gals grey matter, (I just may be sane had I not! Imagine That!) It IS too bad, however, that such fliks as BARON MUNCHAUSEN just never sliced it for some folks imagination, but then they were the folks who when seeing BRAZIL go "WTF?", so I just smile, and hope that one day the earth shall one day see something they have only seen before through a Gilliam film..

Bravo!

S.

Ah, Terry, I love you. What a good director.
A director with grand vision.
People are pussies.
This movie is incredible and very affecting on many levels.

Thanks for this amazing interview!

Oy vey, I just could not get into Tideland myself. I found it boring, I couldn't finish it, I kept migrating towards other activities, such as the computer. I will check out some of his other films though.

It's a shame, Jeff Gridges rules, and that little girl in the movie is adorable. Better luck next Gilliam movie.

I love that movie very much!!!!!!
great interview

Movie was Great, Not for those lacking imagination or just want a film with big bangs and guns. Lets you draw your own conclusions about what you see. My wife fell asleep but later said she didn't like how the retarded guy was gettin too close to the girl. I guess I know better than that.

So it's been a bit since the last post - but I want to add my 2 cents...

The movie was important in that it was uncompromising in its portrayal of truth. I am amazed that he was able to put that much truth down. Look - it happens - all that stuff happens somewhere on our planet - and most film-makers and the people that back them are unable or unwilling to go so far as to put the rawness of our humanity up there on the screen. Like it or not, he did that in Tideland.

Add to that the complexity of showing, within each moment, how the awfulness of the raw truth is translated in the mind of a child and there you have the true genius of this film. That's what I was most impressed with - his ability to portray a child's interpretation of the things going on around her - his ability to preserve that strange innocence of youth even in the face of adult horrors.