Viewed: 10 February 2004
Directed by: Terry Gilliam
Listed in: Movies, Class

I hadn’t seen Twelve monkeys in years. Having just seen La Jetée I was really looking forward to it. I had forgotten about young James seeing himself die in the airport. A fairly crucial plot point. In a comparison between the two films I preferred La Jetée. It was much less exact, about the purpose of time travel, the process, moving images. It left much more up to interpretation. I like that Twelve Monkeys fleshes out the excellent idea, but I think La Jetée is the better film. I do like Brazil’s world put to such a great use. As for the past, I’ve been to Philadelphia in the mid-nineties and it was never quite that bad. It was bad, but not to the point of giant museum buildings being abandoned and taken over by the homeless. Among Fear and Loathing and Brazil as Gilliam’s best.