Brazil

What would you like for Christmas? My own credit card! 5 year old kid Brazil Out of body experience watching this after arriving in Buenos Aires from Cusco. Strange Orwellian sci-fi retro-futurism purgatory where everything seems to be a facade. Technology is the future here however instead of aiding civilization, it overcomplicates it and mocks the inhumanity that lies beneath it all. Bureaucracy, hypocrisy, irony, black comedy, satire, dystopia, sci-fi, romance all packaged into a cute little Christmas present. I’ve never seen a movie so horrifying, yet so comforting to watch in all its extravagance. One second you’re nestled with the holiday spirit. Soft yellow glow of lights, green and red neon hues bathe you. Then explosions. Uncanny whirr of vents and ducts that feel alive and breathing more than the vapid, soulless inhabitants of this twilight-hour, desolate hellscape. Literally - if these walls could talk. The juxtaposition of Christmas and the souless city that celebrates it; the dreamlike sequences vs the caged monotony of daily life; the pastoral freedom of running away vs imprisonment; delusion and fantasy vs reality; freedom vs imprisonment - this film captures all of that and so much more. I easily can see the inspiration of Kon’s Paprika - samurai dreamlike fight sequences, baby faces. Heavy inspiration from Clockwork Orange - identity, free -will, freedom, the corrupt system.