Brand Upon the Brain!

As someone said in front of me as the credits rolled, rather unfairly I thought, "let's go see a film now". Understandable I suppose but still unfair. Unless of course the individual meant it as a compliment because what Guy Maddin throws your way, at least on Friday night at the Elgin, was so much more than your average cineplex flick.

The Elgin was a sublime backdrop for a silent black and white film complete with a 10 piece chamber orchestra comprised of TSO members, 3 sound effects wizards hanging out under the balcony on the right and a rather gargantuan man with an extremely high voice singing several times from up high on the left balcony. As this was all being introduced to us by Guy himself the electricity in the air was more than I can remember for any other Canadian film. Unfortunately the film didn't deliver the goods to match the pre-screening anticipation.

The story itself centred around a guy named Guy and his sister "Sis" who live on this strange remote island with their domineering, omnipresent mother and their workaholic mad scientist like father who spends much of his time extracting youth inducing "nectar" from the motely crew of orphans who have somehow found themselves dropped into this Dickensian scenario. Into this picture drops the renowned children's literary detective brother and sister team of Wendy and Chance Hale which immediately took me back to the good old days of the Famous Five and the Secret Seven.

I wont go any further with the rather zany plot which really works well in a silent setting and given Maddin's previous escapades on screen. Suffice to say there are many laughs, some uncomfortable moments, great performances by the two young female leads Maya Lawson as Sis and Katherine Scharhon as Wendy (and Chance), but at the end of the day not much of a story to tie the whole thing together. At least not one that I was prepared to buy into. And I so bought into the premise of his last feature "The Saddest Music in the World" despite its otherworldy air.

Given that Maddin has stated previously that he based this work on his childhood experiences in Gimli, Manitoba where his parents ran a small summer camp for orphans the man certainly has issues where his mother is concerned. Hopefully he has worked some of them out and if nothing else he provided for all those who attended an experience that was a throwback to the early days of film.