

Terry Gilliam on His Epic New Dystopian Film the Zero Theorem - digital55
http://www.wired.com/2014/09/zero-theorem/

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csdrane
As someone who used to really enjoy dystopian themes, and who still does when
done properly, the trope has become overused. "Epic new dystopian" film
instead sounds like your standard "start out interesting for the first thirty
minutes," and which then devolves into an hour or so of mindless fighting.
Then again, Gilliam did do Brazil so maybe I'm wrong.

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smutticus
I went to a Neal Stephenson talk where he argued that the main reason we see
so many dystopian themed TV shows and movies is because they're cheap. He
argued that it's cheaper to depict a dytopian future than a utopian one.

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aluhut
I don't understand it. Why is it cheaper to design a colourful background
animation then one of a cyberpunk city? Or cloth or items?

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roc
It's not about CGI. It's about practical effects; set and setting -- to convey
the emotional _feel_ of hope, safety, plenty and beauty.

Utopia requires verdant green lawns, large old trees, calm ponds or slowly
flowing water. Big Open spaces. Lots of good light, clean surfaces, rich
materials and blue skies.

This adds up to larger sets, more expensive sets (more care needed in their
construction and use), lots of expensive lights or desirable locations --
everyone loves a picturesque park, so imagine how much it costs to shut one
down for filming. And now imagine what happens if that day is cloudy, or
rainy, or a scene just didn't get captured on schedule. (This is also why so
very few movies are shot on or around water. And why, when they are, massive
water tanks are so often used. Even though they _are_ massively expensive to
create, they're far cheaper than trying to film out on open water.)

If you need to build and furnish a "utopian" apartment or a building, it needs
to be aesthetically pleasing, with graceful curves and clean surfaces. Drop
the fancy chair? You might have to get a new one or at least spend time and
effort reconditioning it or setting it so damage isn't visible on camera.

Dystopia, on the other hand, is conveyed with dark, cramped, dirty, broken and
grimy sets and setting. These things are easy to find, are not in particularly
high demand, can be done trivially on a sound-stage, etc. If you need a
building you can literally just screw together shipping pallets and scrap
metal. If you need to furnish a room, you take a stroll through a dump or buy
some cheap dorm-class furniture and then beat it up a bit. And, importantly,
less light. Fewer lights to rent and move and set up and operate (and move and
set up and operate and move and set up and operate...). You can shoot into the
night, you can shoot facing a decrepit building, you can shoot in the back of
a rusted out buick in a garbage dump.

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kazagistar
I find that the somewhat more utopian futures are fairly well presented in
games and anime, precisely because scale color are cheap there.

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dmix
As much as I love Terry Gilliam I find his films like Zero Theorem and even
Brazil very challenging to watch the whole way through. I always think they
are absolutely genius for the first 30 minutes or so then my interest always
starts to slowly fade.

Similar to most of the Monty Python films.

It's like a desert you can only eat in small batches but delivered in full
cake size.

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jonhohle
The first time I watched Brazil I felt physically uncomfortable. I thought
that was the point. I loved it.

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AznHisoka
The ending was one of the few movie endings that left an emotional impact on
me for awhile.

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seanflyon
I once saw it on TV and they cut that last 10 seconds.

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AznHisoka
Yep, that was the edited version. Those last 10 seconds made the movie go from
a B+ to an instant classic for me.

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terminalcommand
I totally recommend the movie to anyone who is interested in cultural films.
The film scrutinizes our religious beliefs and is a huge eye opener. The only
downside is the excessive use of semi-pornographic materials.

The movie is a must for all the Lisp and Emacs hackers out there who embrace
the hacker philosophy.

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etep
So you're saying there is a self referential satire of the religion of lisp +
emacs. That is good ;)

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liamgooding
Personally I thought this was a great movie about remote working...

The rest was totally lost on me

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everyone
I love Gilliam but imo this is one of his weakest films. My main beef with it
is that not much happens in it, it seems repetitive. Also it is often
illogical (ie. does not follow the fantastic logic already established in the
film)

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Dirlewanger
Agreed. Waltz's character is just too aloof and annoying to give a shit about
him, or why he's waiting for his call. Not too relateable from a protagonist
perspective. The film is basically him being bothered the entire time by other
people when he just wants to work at home.

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Fuzzwah
Official trailer:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rae7_O_6EtU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rae7_O_6EtU)

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dawson
HD version [http://youtu.be/RyMSRRNHRos](http://youtu.be/RyMSRRNHRos)

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alecco
I'm surprised this story got to front page on a SV-based forum where everybody
feeds on techno-utopianism.

Unsurprised about the negativity in the comments.

You might not like the movie, but it is quite original and dares touch a lot
of subjects most of the film industry can't articulate more than 1 at a time.

I wonder how HN takes Black Mirror.

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badlucklottery
>I wonder how HN takes Black Mirror.

Black Mirror is more of modern Twilight Zone. Really tight stories exploring a
narrow ideas quite well. The only exception is probably "White Bear".

Zero Theorem is kind of the opposite: it felt completely unfocused until the
end. I usually hate characters that only exist to deliver exposition but I was
thankful for Management's monologues and the dialog with Leth's supervisor.
The story felt frozen in place whenever they weren't on-screen.

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dabernathy89
Honestly, it's hard for me to get past the cinematography with Gilliam's
films. Way too many Dutch Angles and other funky things.

