I've noticed on this forum that Brazil and Salo are liked by the majority of people. I've never seen them or even seen a video for them. What are they about that people like them so much.

Feel free to post spoilers since I don't mind.

Minor clarification:

Brazil is a very beautiful, dreamy film (from Terry Gilliam), and the 3-disc Criterion release is, in my opinion, one of the most in-depth, well-stocked sets I have ever seen. The film nothwithstanding, the extras are an eye-opener into the ways that a creative visionary like Gilliam can be handcuffed by a studio. I believe the Criterion Brazil is OOP, but I've seen it lately in the $40-60 range. I'm a Gilliam nut, so my view may be biased.

Only the LOTR:FOTR:EE and LOTR:TT:EE are in the same league as far as I'm concerned.

Salo, on the other hand is an OOP Criterion title that has been known to get big $$ on ebay. Haven't seen it myself, but based on the scatological descriptions I've read here and there, I don't really want to. Salo seems to be "popular" more as a collectible than a film.

salo from what i read is like a forgien version of Pink Flamingos.

Being Pier Paolo Pasolini's final film, Salo is a film which many consider an endurance in the depiction of both straight and gay sex, young naked Italian men and women getting whipped around, forced to eat their own feces, piss drinking, and ultimately slaughtered while their captives revel in the depravity they inflict on them. So, if you are a fan of Euro-sleaze disguised as an 'art' film than this is your film.

[singing]One of these things is not like the other, one of these things does not belong..."[/singing]

Eww.. I think I'll pass at ever trying to see it.

....right......Giles, cant believe you actually tagged the film as "Euro-sleaze". While I am not a fan of Pasolini's work, and I wont even argue about the qualities of Salo, your description makes me laugh!!


....resinrats:

Seeing a film does not mean you have to accept its message!!

Count me out for watching shit-eating and piss-drinking as well.

Maybe you should go out and see them.

I loved Brazil. It's a great film with great visuals and a very interesting story.

Well I have seen Brazil - and it was overrated. I thought it sucked in the worst way

I have not seen Salo and really don't care too - it is more of a collectible than anything else

I liked Brazil. I found it visually appealing.

I still don't have the guts to watch Salo. Salo is like extreme movie watching I guess. If you watch it, you get to brag about that you did and call everyone else wusses.

Salo is an okay film. It must be judged in the context of it's time. It's certainly dated but remains an interesting film with some great symbolism.

Brazil is a masterpiece. A classic. A work of art. Whatever you want to call it. It works in every way movies should work. It's thought-provoking, funny, disturbing, intense, silly, and quite frankly still Terry Gilliam's best film to date. It's a movie that aspires to be something and it succeeds.

I first saw Brazil when it was new on video - around 1986. I really liked it then, but now it is one of my favorite movies of all time. It can be polarizing - but if you are in tune with it's, admitedly peculiar rhythms, and understand what it's trying to do, it can be a very rich and rewarding experience that keeps giving.

Brazil - I've seen this once, a year or so ago. At first I didn't really care for it. It just left me feeling weird. But lately I've found myself thinking about it a lot. More and more often I realize I'd like to see it again. Sometimes I will recall something from it - a particular scene or set - and I'll feel extremely interested. Now I'm dying to see it again. I have a sneaking suspicion that I will absolutely love it a second time through.

In other words, Brazil is an acquired taste, and I think im beginning to acquire it.

Haven't seen Salo yet.

cuz they is both creeton collection sets.

Frankly, I thought brazil was unengaging to the 10th degree. I fail to see anything captivating, interesting, thought provoking, nor visually impressive about that movie what-so-ever. The plot.... arrggghh, im very glad i didnt blind buy it. None the less, to each their own. Many people like it quite a bit and it received some critical acclaim, so maybe it just doesnt fit my tastes. Or maybe people twisted/tainted their experience with it because others hold it in such high regard.

Salo, however is nothing I would ever want to watch. Imo, even though I cannot say for certain having not seen it (and rarely do I feel right giving opinions on movies i havent watched), that movie is trash. To call that art, would to be to call "Faces of death" art (they show people being killed, for reference).

brazil is a brilliant commentary on bureaucracy run amok.

not much else to add, except that the standard version is the same cut of the film as the criterion. it would be a good blind buy if you can find it cheap. If you like any of the following, I think you'd like Brazil (not that they necessarily have much in common):

Dark City
Soylent Green
12 Monkeys
Donnie Darko
City of Lost Children
Blade Runner
Starship Troopers (assuming you saw it as a dark comedy/social satire)

I don't think Salo and brazil have much in common, though I admittedly have little desire to see Salo. I'm sure I could appreciate it as a film, it just sounds a little heavy-handed unlike, say, Tin Drum.

I've found very, very, very few people who actually liked Salo.


Brzail on the other hand, is quite well liked on this forum

I hate this type of comment, since it assumes everyone buying Criterion movies knows nothing about the movies they buy, but in the case of Salo, it has a grain of truth. If Salo was not an OOP Criterion, most people wouldn't consider buying it for $5, much less the huge sums it commands. I've never seen it, and don't have any desire to (not a big fan of scat, S&M, etc.)!

Brazil is a different case entirely. As you can see in this thread, some people don't like it, but it has had a pretty significant cult following before Criterion ever released it (I'm a fan, it was one of the first videos I bought, and the first DVD).

The only connection I can think of between these two movies besides both being released by Criterion is that Salo is, I think, still available in Brazil.

Yes Brazil is a fantastic film!!

Btw- As far as I know it is NOT Out-of-Print.

I did not 'enjoy' Salo (it's not really one of those movies that you 'enjoy' - not entertainment), but I did find that it made some vital statements about the human animal that were mildly thought-provoking. The movie is probably the most violent and sexually explicit film ever made (not counting perhaps those that are intentionally purely pornographic). It is very disturbing, at times impossible to watch, and definitely not for the vast majority of audiences (the most violent moments are also quite fake-looking). This movie is probably only as popular as it is because the Criterion DVD is long out of print and routinely goes for hundreds on eBay. It's really impossible for me to say if Salo is a good movie or not, because it is more of an object than a film. It simply is what it is.

Brazil, however, is a borderline-masterpiece that has one of the most interesting histories of any film ever made. The Criterion DVD (still in print and worth every penny) is a three disc set and an exhaustive chronicle of the film's making. Worth checking out.

Forget Salo. That film was just exploitation hiding under the guise of black-shirt bashing.

If you want some really great exploitation that fully drenches itself in leftwing politics to the N-th degree, pick up the two wonderful Koji Wakamatsu films released by Image, GO...GO...SECONDTIME VIRGIN and ECSTASY OF THE ANGELS.

I for one truly wish that THE EMBRYO HUNTS ALONE (that's a real title guys) would get a nice release here.

I don't see any beauty in Brazil. Its an outdated vision IMO.

"Forget Salo. That film was just exploitation hiding under the guise of black-shirt bashing."

. . . deep' deep sigh . . .

. . . . . .

Salo is the best film of all time.

Shit-eating, piss-drinking, sodomy... What more could you ask for?