Artivels Undescribable Perfection

Hottoceame The Age of Commercialism

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

frankcwalsh I stopped the DVD after an hour when it became repetitive. Before that, it was an interesting but weird movie. It's filmed as a silent movie with the characters dressed in the robes and hair styles of the early 1900's. Nobody talks but you do have a narrator who told you what is happening and words written in white on a black background that let you know other things. It's made in black and white with grainy images and I actually had to check the date of he movie o make sure it wasn't 70 years old. It was interesting but slow for about 40 minutes, until the story stopped moving. I debated whether to stop for about another 15 minutes then fast forward for another five then finally stopped it. I don't mind movies made today in black and white(I'm a big fan of film noir), and I like movies that are different. What I don't tolerate are movies that are boring and waste my time.

OldAle1 I didn't manage to see this until the last day (it played but a week here in little Burlington VT, no surprise) and I was the sole patron at the showing, but it was worth it, and seeing a film alone in a theater seems fitting when we're talking about Maddin, whose films are certainly the definition of personal and uncompromising, never geared towards a mainstream audience, or anybody it seems but Maddin himself.Brand Upon the Brain! continues the frenetic, almost entirely montage-based style that was first evident (from what I've seen anyway) in Heart of the World; I don't know how many shots there are in the 100 minutes or so of the film, but I'd guess it's got to be over a thousand. "Guy Maddin" returns home to the lighthouse where he grew up (yes, this is typical Maddin!) on a remote island....somewhere....and his memories take him back to childhood, to the tyrannical mother and weird inventor father who kept him a virtual prisoner along with the orphans in the school they run, until one day they are visited by girl detective Wendy Hale, star of the "Hale Twins" books for boys and girls, who is convinced that there is a mystery to be solved on the island....What follows is madcap sexual perversions, gender confusion, strange Dr. Moreau-like experiments, a fairly sick mother-son relationship and an extraordinarily implausible love triangle, all done in furious silent black-and-white montage, with dramatic and urgent Isabella Rossellini narration and beautiful, sometimes frightening music by Jason Staczek. This is one of Maddin's faster-paced, more propulsive films, though it does seem to end about half a dozen times and there is a bit of a long-in-the-tooth aura both to the story itself and its telling. On the whole, though, it's another wonderfully inventive and magical journey to a lost era in film-making and a warped and resolutely uncommercial creative mind, and is for this fan at least, proof that Maddin is the oddest, and most fascinating filmmaker this side of David Lynch.theatrical viewing

angel_s_garden I should have never watched this movie. The style of filming may be considered artsy to some, but it is considered migraine-inducing to me. I think it may have had an interesting plot, but since I couldn't watch it for long stretches at a time I missed a lot. The flickering pictures and stop motion filming branded my brain. I stopped watching mid way through and won't be back for a second try. I suppose if I were home alone in my own lighthouse some dark and stormy evening, this might be just the ticket... PS Not sure if the lighthouse/ film style thing can be considered a spoiler, but I don't want to be blacklisted on my first review ;)

Paul Martin With the exception of a few brief seemingly random shots, Brand Upon the Brain! is shot (or made to appear in post-production to be shot) in grainy black and white. The look is reminiscent of David Lynch's Eraserhead, a classic that may have been an influence, though the style is quite different. Maddin's film uses much more frenetic editing techniques, particularly frequent cutting to create an abrasive subliminal effect from which the title appears to be derived.I use the term 'abrasive' and for some people that might be a negative, but I found it effective. The film uses captions and along with a neo-silent-era visual design, it has the effect of a coherent experimental film with a bizarre horror narrative. A man, Guy, returns to the island orphanage of his parents after a thirty year absence, on the request of his dying mother. It turns out the parents were subjecting the orphans to some peculiar activities from which Guy escaped.I found the design, high-contrast lighting and editing techniques effective in conveying a bizarre nightmare-type of story, a horror film that is not entirely original in narrative nor design, yet original in its presentation. I liked the voice-over narration by Isabelle Rosellini.There are some very attractive characterisations and depictions of inoffensive perversity. Definitely worth a look.