Expectation: May or may not be a comedy. Or possibly, just possibly, a documentary about Brazil. Reality: Terry Gilliam mixes Jonathan Pryce, Nineteen Eighty Four, Robert de Niro, daydreams, Ian Holm, monsters, Kim Greist, cosmetic surgery and Michael Palin to paint a strange and sprawling dystopia. Pryce plays a beleaguered bureaucrat whose fantasies of escaping with his ideal woman are constantly interrupted by the claim that he is involved in a terrorist organisation. Fans of happy endings will do well to avoid the director's cut. The link to Brazil lies solely in the recurring use of Geoff Muldaur's 'Aquarela do Brasil' ('Watercolour of Brazil') on the soundtrack. Gilliam might not have intended his title to be ironic (the sweltering heat of the office couldn't be further away from connotations of sunshine, samba and carnival season) but the concept of escape through imagination has long been a mark of his work. Fabien Pruvot's Japan (2008) also attempts to evoke- and provoke- a country's national character, sharing its name with his contract killer protagonist. But then the trailer would've given that away...