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Brand Upon The Brain! - suggested by Brightside
A review in six chapters.
Chapter One
A Criterion presentation. Quality! Guy Maddin. Memories… Young Guy Maddin… More memories. Lighthouse! Orphanage. MOTHER!
end of Chapter One
Chapter Two
A silent siren. Laughing? Isabella Rosselini! Laughing.And narrating. Our Laughing narrator! Narrating the madness. Where is Guy? MOTHER wants to know! MOTHER! She is frantic. Faster! Mother sees all! Poor Guy. Hyper-editing. SEIZURES!! Black and white. Freudian memories. Subliminal. Guy’s sister. Flashes of COLOR!!!
end of Chapter Two
Chapter Three
A faceless father. Guy’s father. Working. Always working! Mad scientist. Guy! Mother is calling. Sister’s new friend. Who’s fooling who!?! Guy is torn. Looking through the keyhole. THE UNDRESSING GLOVES! The forbidden kiss! GUY!! “You’re late for dinner!!” That damned aerophone.
end of Chapter Three
MIGRAINES!
~ I n t e r m i s s i o n ~
Chapter Four
Father’s secret lab. Experiments! Poor orphans. Isabella Rosselini. Laughing! Again!! DVD SPECIAL features! Changing narrator. Crazy Crispin Glover! Mother’s plan…Where are the orphans? The sound of little feet. Crispin Glover. MISTAKE!! More migraines. Secrets! Rumania! Mother! Crazy Isabella! Always laughing.
end of Chapter Four
Chapter Five
The love that DARE not speak its name [Foghorn blows] Incest!?! Isabella SCREAMS! Strange goings-on in the lab. Autobiograhpy?. Poor, poor Guy!
end of Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Another decision! Born of passion! Guy is torn. “I love you, Mother.” [garbled sounds] Sis sees her Chance! An opportunity!! [Sound of angels singing] What about the orphans? Sweet nectar! Memories fade. Intertitles do not. Guy lives to direct again! What will Guy? Do? NEXT??? [Isabella singing]
end of Chapter Six
F I N
If you enjoyed any part of this review, then I think you'd probably like Guy Maddin's film. A lot.
Winston*
10-02-2008, 10:35 PM
Review > Movie
Spinal
10-02-2008, 11:46 PM
This is one of Maddin's best films. I thought it was a blast. So delightfully unpredictable, yet meaningful and evocative as well.
Yxklyx
10-03-2008, 12:31 AM
I think he like it.
Amnesiac
10-03-2008, 04:17 AM
Ebert took a similar approach near the end of his My Winnipeg review.
B-side
10-03-2008, 05:33 AM
Uh... does that mean you liked it?:lol:
I thought it was fantastic. My first feature length Maddin, and I couldn't have been much more pleased with the outcome.
dreamdead
10-22-2008, 07:36 PM
This is wonderful both as a review and as encapsulation of the film itself. At this point I think that Cowards Bend the Knee is just a hair better, but that's likely because I was a virgin to Maddin's aesthetic then. Now I know to expect the blend of appropriation of silent film themes connected to a more modern analysis of memory and blurred identity, and the results, while still technically perfect and evocative, seem a bit standard. That is, the wonder comes now in seeing how Maddin adjusts his themes to the piece rather than marveling at the entirety of the aesthetic itself. That said, this is marvelous entertainment in my eyes...
I agree, I really like it an awful lot, tho, like you, I may slightly prefer Cowards. My Winnipeg is the only Maddin feature I've yet to see and I believe it's intended as the final film in his "autobiographical" trilogy. Even more interesting will be to see which direction his films take next. I do hope he has a few more tricks up his sleeve as I'd hate to see him become the new poster child for self-parody. I'd like to see him make a throwback horror movie in the 30's Universal style, with great mad scientist-secret laboratory sets, involving a freshly-revived young cadaver who finally gains the courage to act on his incestuous feelings for his mother...oops, there we go again. :)
Raiders
10-22-2008, 10:18 PM
It is inconceivable I have seen only four Maddin films (three features). I just always seem to find something else to prioritize.
Yxklyx
10-22-2008, 10:52 PM
...I do hope he has a few more tricks up his sleeve as I'd hate to see him become the new poster child for self-parody. I'd like to see him make a throwback horror movie in the 30's Universal style, with great mad scientist-secret laboratory sets, involving a freshly-revived young cadaver who finally gains the courage to act on his incestuous feelings for his mother...oops, there we go again. :)
I don't like the direction he's heading though. He's using narration more and more and his repetitive frenetic quick cuts I don't care for much.
megladon8
10-23-2008, 03:29 AM
Is this a good place to start with Guy Maddin's films?
I haven't seen any yet.
Actually, I saw his short "The Heart of the World" which I thought was quite good, if a bit overbearing with its message.
Probably not...at least see Cowards first or, ideally, Archangel or Careful.
fwiw:
Brand Upon the Brain! ***½
The Saddest Music in the World ***
Cowards Bend the Knee ****
Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary ***
Twilight of the Ice Nymphs *½
Careful ****
Archangel ***½
Tales from the Gimli Hospital ***
Apart from Heart of the World (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4DWmrWfPTmI), my favorite short films are Odilon Redon (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=iSZYkv4Ad2Q), Sombra Dolorosa (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=hs9iqu83E9Y) and Sissy Boy Slap Party (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VXOU2Tno7YA).
Amnesiac
10-23-2008, 04:30 PM
I've only seen My Winnipeg and The Saddest Music In The World (some eccentric, and at times really annoying, characters in that one)... but I'm really curious about Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary.
Since it is that Halloween season, I thought I might pick it up some time soon.
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