The movie which introduced Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin to me was Tales from the Gimli Hospital (1988). (I almost keyed in Tales of the Gold Monkey.) I saw it at the Bloor Cinema around 1993... it was the second of two movies that evening. As soon as the screen lit up with Gimli, there was a title card of a 'four-stacker' (early 20th Century ocean liner) done like an old movie studio logo. My feeling then was, "this is going to be a good movie". At that very early point of the film, some people got up and left. Some people are so biased: "Looks like an old movie so I am going to get out of my seat and leave."Just a minute or two in was enough to convince those of us who decided to give the film a chance, at least, that this was not like the typical Hollywood job. To make a long story short, I loved Tales from the Gimli Hospital. (And I cannot remember the feature played just before. Points for Maddin!)
A couple of years later I saw Careful (1992). Liked it too but not near as much.
The most recent film I saw of Maddin's was The Saddest Music in the World. Great first half hour... then down hill a little. (This is common with his films, I find. He depends so much on various techniques that I feel let down by the lack of focus. Make no mistake, I like Maddin very much. He is a true original and gives Canada a good name. But he occasionally comes across as someone who is looking for a style as opposed to having one of his own. Of course, I am talking through my hat. One could argue that is his style.)
On tonight's big screen (at home) was Maddin's 2002 flicker, Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary. I need more time to think about this one. At first blush, my impression is of a fairly straightforward story (at least, in Maddin terms) coupled with fine music and dancing. Dracula held my interest. The usual mix of styles expected of this filmmaker. Not to all tastes, to put it mildly, but worth checking out.
Here is a set of terrific short videos on the Maddin in question... http://archives.cbc.ca/IDD-1-68-1420/arts_entertainment/Guy_Maddin/
2 comments:
I was very excited about the idea of this, just as I like the idea of Guy Madden because I get the idea wrong. I'm glad I saw it and satisfied my curiosity.
It's a perfect example of what is called art and reminds me that instead it is craft that I love and not unrestrained "art." I hate to jab at him, but I can only imagine what he would do if he loved narrative as much as he loves art direction and arcane coverage throw-backs. Imagine if he found just the right moment for the right shot or film stock. Never has so much lauded independent spirit coasted so far thanks to fawning pencil-neck fillum essayists and crickets.
I guess I thought "Yipeeee, a simple, classic story to pin his visuals on! Finally!" And then, well, it gets in the way of itself.
Did I see that right? Was he a figure-skating Oriental Dracula? Or just ballet-dancing? Iris to black.
It's not Nosferatu, and as weak as Dracula: Dead and Loving It might have been I think I'll see the Mel Brooks version again before this one. Guy Madden and George Lucas are the two ends of the freedom-run-amuck indie auteur spectrum. Both have a great vision, enviable power, and kinda suck.
MaddIN.
I like, Mr. Smight, how you answered your own hypothesis in your piece. Yes, that IS his style. And while I've still not seen a couple of his features, I do agree that by and large his films are unsatisfying, as after one gets used to the stunning look and retro-archaic technical design, there's not much else going on behind there. This is why I think his best work is in his shorts... THE HEART OF THE WORLD and ODILON REDON are both tremendous. Intense, visually stunning, sustaining a logic and syntax consistently throughout.
Despite that, I applaud him for what he does, for is one of the few "Auteurs" working today, not only in Canada, but the world, creating an inconsistent body of work, but one that's unmistakably his vision.
I also recommend the book "Tales from Atelier Tower", which is a compendium of his writing: script treatments, diary entries, movie reviews... all have the reverence of old movie styles that he revives in his films.
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