What a peculiar film. I should begin by saying that I haven't seen any of Guy Maddin's other films, so I don't know how it compares to the rest of his work. But it's certainly unusual. The approach to the filming and the look of the thing are extremely unusual. As is the story. When you put it all together, I didn't like it much (though I didn't disliked it) - but it's a wacky, different ride.
It's shot through odd lenses, and at odd angles. Saying that it's in black and white and some of the sets would be appropriate for an elementary school play doesn't come close to describing the obscured, dreamy, fake look of it. Maybe I should mention that one key point involves Isabella Rosselini's legless, beer magnate bitch receiving glass legs filled with her beer - legs created by the man who sawed off her original legs. Or should I mention that one of the leg-maker's sons (a cellist who goes by Gavrilo the Great in honor of the man who started the Great War) carries around the heart of his dead son in a jar? Of should I mention the amnesiac who's also part of this family. She's played by Maria de Medeiros (perhaps you remember her huge eyes and prominent cheeks from her performance as Bruce Willis' girlfriend in Pulp Fiction). All in all it's interesting as an oddly constructed wacky, family freak show. But, that said, I don't know that it adds up to much.
Posted by armand at November 25, 2004 11:51 AM | TrackBack | Posted to Movies