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Brainstorm

6.0

1,830

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Original title

Brainstorm

Year

1983

Running time

106 min.

Country

United States

Director

Douglas Trumbull

Screenwriter

Philip Frank Messina, Robert Stitzel. Story: Bruce Joel Rubin

Cast

Music

James Horner

Cinematography

Richard Yuricich

Producer

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Genre

Sci-Fi. Thriller | Cyberpunk

Synopsis

Brilliant researchers Lillian Reynolds and Michael Brace have developed a system of recording and playing back actual experiences of people. Once the capability of tapping into "higher brain functions" is added in, and you can literally jump into someone else's head and play back recordings of what he or she was thinking, feeling, seeing, etc., at the time of the recording, the applications for the project quickly spiral out of control. While Michael Brace uses the system to become close again to Karen Brace, his estranged wife who also works on the project, others start abusing it for intense sexual experiences and other logical but morally questionable purposes. The government tries to kick Michael and Lillian off the project once the vast military potential of the technology is discovered. It soon becomes obvious that the government is interested in more than just missile guidance systems. The lab starts producing mind torture recordings and other psychosis inducing material. When one of the researchers dies and tapes the experience of death, Michael is convinced that he must playback this tape to honor the memory of the researcher and to become enlightened. When another researcher dies during playback the tape is locked away and Michael has to fight against his former colleagues and the government lackeys that now run his lab in order to play back and confront the "scariest thing any of us will ever face" - death itself.

Awards: 1984: Avoriaz International Fantastic Film Festival: nominated to Grand Prix (Best Film).

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Critics' reviews

"'Brainstorm' is like being caught in a Novocaine hurricane -- if you're not a numbskull when you walk in, you will be by the time you walk out"

Rita Kempley: The Washington Post
"Douglas Trumbull’s effects wizardry – and the concept behind it – is the movie...On the downside, majority of players (...) seem merely along for the ride."

Variety Staff: Variety
"As though this ridiculousness weren’t sufficiently groan-inducing, the scenes depicting the mischief Brace wreaks on the corporation while he’s mid-hack undergo a bizarre tonal shift"

Budd Wilkins: Slant
"This is a good idea for a movie. Unfortunately, in Brainstorm it remains basically an idea. The characters take such a secondary importance to the gadget that we never feel much for them. (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 4)"

Roger Ebert: Chicago Sun-Times
"This could have been a wonderful film, but the makers fell in love with the hardware and forgot the humanity"

TV Guide
"As a thriller it's a bit soft, as sci-fi it's a bit simple."

Time Out

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User history

Brainstorm

1983

Douglas Trumbull

6.0

(1,830)