Brand Upon the Brain! A Remembrance in 12 Chapters (2006)'s comments

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the3rdman

Guy Maddin really outdid himself here. His films seem to occupy an alternative landscape of the subconscious, filled with submerged fears and desires. I think that is why, even though they seem highly stylized and personal, Maddin's films have a strong emotional core that easily draws you in. Memories of childhood are never as bucolic and innocent as they are portrayed in the popular culture, especially in North America. Maddin depicts them as a veritable nightmare of hormonal angst, oedipal concerns and terror of the unknown complexities of the adult world. On top of all that, Brand Upon the Brain! is also extremely funny. Who else makes movies like this? Thanks Guy.

9 years 11 months ago

Gilles Debil

Another Guy Maddin masterpiece. Maybe the weirdest film he has made, but it flows like the river in Deliverance: faster and faster and you get sucked in.

9 years 12 months ago

akuma587

Wow, this movie blew my mind. To any fan of silent films or experimental films, you have to see this.

14 years 4 months ago

Siskoid

Completely dissimilar to, yet tackling the same themes as My Winnipeg, Brand Upon the Brain! is another instance of Guy Maddin putting a version of himself on film, and again reinventing his family and past. If we are the sum of our experiences, where do imagined experiences fit in? What happens to the part of us we deny or forget? Maddin's childhood is traduced through childhood fantasies that include horrible birth parents, experimentation on a orphanageful of kids on some secluded island (has Eggers seen this? I feel like The Lighthouse is just one island over), and young detectives summoned out of a book. Guy the character must come to terms with this lurid story, either accepting it or accepting its irreality, hard to say. Isabella Rossellini narrates as the "Interlocutor", a title that is in itself enigmatic. And of course, it's in Maddin's grainy retro style, here coming off as a dark dream that David Lynch would be envious of. You just never know what's going to happen next in this hellish lunacy.

1 year 11 months ago