There's only one Criterion and it's Brazil

Even with hundreds of DVDs still on the shelves, there's only one Criterion. I literally dream about getting access to that closet with an unlimited budget, but the few releases from that esteemed company that made it as far as my part of the world were extraordinarily expensive - up to four time what you'd pay in the States.

So there's only one, that I bought at some record and movie store in Melbourne in late 2018. It was less than $20 for a stone cold masterpiece of the film, and I took home my one and only criterion release, (along with all three seasons of the Leftovers that I got for $30).

And if it had to be anything, of course it's Brazil.

There's nothing else like Brazil, and never will be. It's just a such a clear, definitive statement that any attempt to copy it will inevitably leave you looking like a fool. It's a clear influence on all sorts of films made in the past 30-something years, and that's okay, but any dullard who attempts to remake it in the future should be literally cut off at the knees.

A great, groaning monster of a film, still speaking of how the weakest of souls happily embrace fascism, and how they grind down the dreamers who hope for something better, or maybe just a little less mindlessly cruel. Palin's ability to compartmentalize the hideous tortures he carries out with his duties as a loving dad are still quite shocking and sadly contemporary.

You can read so much into it, and it's such an absolute vision .You can't blame Gilliam for sticking to his guns when the studio tried to fuck him, because he had to tell the story he wanted, because any compromise would fatally undermine it.

With all the on screen subtext and off screen drama, I'll take all the extras the criterion discs can give me, including the full version, the ridiculous happy ending version, storyboards, two full length documentaries, and special features on the script, the production design, the costumes, the score and the special effects.

I'll eat that up like the capitalist lap-dog I am, and ask for more. I'm glad I got it. The youngest in our house spilled his milk all over it the other day, but I got it cleaned up before there was too much damage and I don't mind too much. Brazil deserves to be scuffed and grotty around the edges, even in the finest of packaging.