4 gibbles out of 5
Director: Guy Maddin
Guy Maddin came up in a review or as a reference to something a while back and it piqued my interest. …Because I hadn’t heard of him. Which is a completely dicky thing to say, but I mean it even more directly dickily than it sounds, in that I read a lot of film whoop-dee-doo I’m-important film crap, and it wasn’t a name I’d stumbled across yet. Chances are, even if you’re not watching every movie on the fringes of the fringe, someone will name drop some “obscure” but well know auteur of whom you should know or claim inspiration of some foreign Great who then sticks in your brain. But Guy Maddin wasn’t a name I’d heard.
So I looked him up, and read that he shot his films in the style of / inspire by silent movies, or films from the 30s and 40s. I sort of rolled my eyes, as this sounds look a bastardly thing to do, but I couldn’t get past the notion that he seemed to be well-regarded by good sources and yet his name just wasn’t dropped that often. What could it mean?
Guy Maddin does shoot his films in the style of early era films. But I don’t think he’s an easy reference to make – if ‘My Winnipeg’ is any indication- because the overall feel of the movie is so unique that it exists completely in its own class. According to Ebert’s review of the film, Winnipeg city fathers hired Maddin – who’s always lived there – to make a documentary about their city. Maddin responded with a semi-autobiographical, semi-documentary, maybe partially fictional, maybe all fictional flyby of growing up in Winnipeg and about the city itself.
Fresh to Maddin’s style, the film definitely takes a while to start working its magic. The film consists of short scenes interspersed with documentary footage interspersed with a framing narrative of being on a train, trying to stay awake, trying to leave Winnipeg. Maddin lures us into his surreal, dreamlike chatter with repeated phrases and images. It’s heavy on this initially and a little off-putting, but once you get into the rhythm the film becomes addictive…
…As Maddin stages a recreation of his family home in order to understand what keeps him rooted in Winnipeg, or as he explains strange “facts” about Winnipeg laws and history. It’s strange, and gorgeous, and not at all boring for how rhythmic and natural it is… and at times hilarious. The style is also quite amazing – if you’re imagining films where they attempt to “age” the look of it, that’s not what this is. Maddin doesn’t seem to be trying to fake that these are olden times, he simply stages things as they did then and shoots them with older materials. It’s a refreshingly beautiful way to look at things, and matches the wandering sing-song of the film. It also makes the switch to some modern, color footage that much more shocking, when Maddin comically / seriously explores the destruction of some of Winnipeg’s history.
There’s really no perfect way to explain it. I’ve never seen a film like this before, and while I find it hard to directly recommend it, I also want everyone to watch it. It’s rare that something is not only unique but, well, good. I look forward to watching more of Maddin’s work.
Certainly it's real.
vaguely-offensive 