Brazil

Unspooled

Paul Scheer & Amy Nicholson

Tv & Film, Film Reviews

4.5 • 5K Ratings

🗓️ 5 February 2026

⏱️ 72 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Paul and Amy take on Brazil, Terry Gilliam’s surreal warning about authoritarianism, paperwork, and the cost of losing one’s imagination. They trace the film’s roots in Gilliam’s own experiences, his battles with studio power, and the creative compromises that nearly reshaped it to examine why Brazil remains one of cinema’s most enduring dystopias. You can join the Unspooled conversation on Paul’s Discord at https://discord.gg/ZwtygZGTa6 Follow Paul and Amy on Letterboxd for more of their movie hot takes! https://letterboxd.com/paulscheer/ https://letterboxd.com/theamynicholson/ Paul’s book Joyful Recollections of Trauma is out now! Find it at https://www.harpercollins.com/products/joyful-recollections-of-trauma-paul-scheer Check out more of Paul's writing on his Substack https://substack.com/@paulscheer Episodic Art by Kim Troxall: https://www.unspooledart.com/ Learn more about the show at Unspooledpod.com, follow us on Twitter @unspooled and on Instagram @unspooledpod, and don’t forget to rate, review & subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or where you listen to podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The year is 1985.
0:03.0	This is a black eye for the department, Lowry, and I don't care how you behave when you were at records.
0:09.0	Information retrieval is an executive branch.
0:11.0	We are proud of our reputation and we protected.
0:14.0	Damn it, Lowry! That convoy of personnel carriers is still not accounted for!
0:18.0	I thought I told you to deal with it!
0:20.0	What the hell is this mess?
0:21.8	An empty desk is an efficient desk.
0:23.8	The movie?
0:25.3	Brazil. Hello, everyone and welcome to unspool.
0:42.3	Hello, everyone, and welcome to Unspooled. Yes, welcome to Unspooled. This is a podcast about good movies, critical hits, fan favorites, mustsies, and in case you missed them.
0:57.0	We have covered the AFI top 100, and now we are checking off movies from three major lists.
1:02.2	The Letterbox top 250 films of the most fans, the IMDB top 250, and the New York Times,
1:08.6	1,000 essential films.
1:10.8	And Amy, we'll also be chasing our own curiosity.
1:13.8	That's right, wherever it may lead us.
1:15.7	And this week is a prime example of that.
1:17.5	We'll explain why in just a second.
1:19.5	I am Paul Shear.
1:20.3	I'm an actor, writer, and director, and I am forever scarred by seeing Catherine
1:25.2	Helmand in this film because I only knew her from Who's the Boss?
1:30.1	And when I was a kid, I saw a clip of this movie on TV and I was like, what are they doing to Mona?
	...

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