My Winnipeg

Synopsis: Guy Maddin explores the reasons which drove him to leave his hometown of Winnipeg.

The films of Guy Maddin are a peculiar brand of the surreal, bizarre and grotesque, charcteristically using the features of the silent movie and shimmering black and white imagery to tell his often-maddening tales. Brand Upon the Brain was a supposed autobiographical tale of Maddin’s childhood involving his life in an orphanage. It’s doubtful that his parents experimented on children, drawing fluid from their brains in order to make an anti-aging serum but Madden played his story not like a horror movie but rather as a tender recollection of his early years

My Winnipeg is an autobiographical that tells the truth focusing on the director’s love-hate relationship with the town of Winnipeg. This could been a very dry exercise were it not for the vivid imagination of the director and some of the bizarre by-laws of Winnipeg. In a delightfully surreal touch Maddin hires a troupe of actors to recreate some of his life experiences in his old family home. The fact that his domineering mother is played by veteran actress Anne Savage and his old chihuahua is now played by a pug called Spanky only adds to the oddness. The director enticed Savage out of retirement as he was a huge fan of Edgar. G. Ulmer’s 1945 noir classic, Detour.

Visually, the film is a gorgeous combination of Maddin’s trademark black and white imagery and a surreal combination of archive footage and modern day diatribe as his hometown, and, in particular, his beloved ice hockey stadiums, are being demolished or changed forever. There are some moments that are so extraordinary that there is simply no way you think they could be true, but strangely enough they are. In particular the footage of a frozen lake where some horses have been painfully entrapped in the ice and frozen to death is remarkable and the fact that the locals travelled to witness this equine tragedy even more ghoulish.

The visual are accompanied by a narration by Maddin himself. At certain screenings, including the recent showing at the Sydney Film Festival, the director appears live on stage. This brings an urgency and genuine passion to the proceedings. It remains to be seen how the film will work with a ‘normal’ soundtrack. As always though, Maddin has given a truly idiosyncratic vision of the world and in particular, Winnipeg.

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