Brand Upon the Brain Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Brand Upon the Brain!
If you ever loved the artistry of David Lynch, but thought his films were too dark and incomprehensible, there's Guy Maddin to ride in on a sea of comedic absurdity. With his silent film Brand Upon the Brain! he did something entirely different -- he created the ultimate live theater experience, one that can never be replicated at home unless you're ridiculously rich with a live orchestra, group of foley artists, a celebrity narrator, and a castrato at your disposal. But even still, this Criterion release does a fine job of coming close.

But first, the plot. The film focuses on a young Guy Maddin as he lives on a remote island that holds a lonely orphanage. His mother reigns with an iron fist and peeping watchtower while trying to reverse the weariness of age with her strange, scientist husband. Meanwhile, one of the orphans dies, strange holes are found on some of the kids, and some teen detectives come to investigate, all in the pulsing throb of teenage rebellion and sexuality.

While you can't create the live experience at home, Criterion has done everything possible to make this disc like the live experience. Each screening across Canada and the states had a celebrity narrator, and this disc allows you to choose between the seven narrators, which essentially gives you seven different ways to view the film -- from Maddin himself to Isabella Rossellini, John Ashbery, and Crispin Glover. There's also a documentary with interviews, two new short films, deleted scenes, a trailer, and an essay by Dennis Lim.

Check out James Rocchi's Review | Buy the DVD

Oh, lucky you, if you live in Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles or San Francisco (where it will play one time only during the San Francisco Film Festival). Guy Maddin's Brand Upon the Brain!, which all of Cinematical's Toronto International Film Festival team caught en masse, is coming to those cities. The film will be presented as a live theatrical event with a live 11-piece orchestra, a five-person live foley team creating special sound effects on stage, a live celebrity narrator, and a castrato performing along with the film.

Guy has returned to his parent's home -- an orphanage and lighthouse on a remote island -- at his mother's behest. Mother wants the lighthouse painted, and Guy, like any nice young man raised by an overbearing mother, naturally complies. As Guy paints, he relives his past adventures with Sis when teen detectives Wendy and Chance arrived on the island to spy on Mom and Dad.

Following the special theatrical presentation of Brand Upon the Brain! in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles, the film will continue its theatrical run with a recorded soundtrack narrated by Isabella Rosellini, and is slated to play in other cities in that format as well beginning in May. While the film won't have exactly the same feel with a recorded soundtrack, as a cinematic experience on its own, it's still worth catching.

If you have a chance to catch the live theatrical event, though, don't miss it -- it is truly an unforgettable experience. Months after seeing it at Toronto, I'm still haunted by it. Trust me on this one. Miss this, and you'll be kicking yourself in the rear for the rest of your natural life. Catch it, and you can smugly mention it to all your cinephile friends who weren't savvy enough to be there. "Ah, yes, the Maddin, I was there for that, it was truly fantastic ... " sounds ever so much better than, "The Maddin? Crap, I missed it, was it good?"

For any film, it's an undeniable accomplishment to ensnare a viewer and have them ride every high and low, anxiously reacting to the pace and feel of each scene. Everything from the lighting to the sound has to be right on cue and woven together with an intriguing story. With every piece that's off, it's another exit door offered to the viewer. Furthermore, when a film is silent, it is even more imperative to lure the audience in. Guy Maddin's Brand Upon the Brain! is the perfect blending of modern quirk and classic techniques of black and white storytelling and silence. However, to truly experience it is not to throw a DVD on your television, but to go out and feel it for yourself.

In September, I had the most memorable moviegoing experience of my life when TIFF did a one-night-only life performance of Brand. As James Rocchi described in September, the welcome false-start showed just how important the music and accompaniment are to the piece. In complete silence the film was jarring and beyond-Maddin strange, but with the music, it began to flow like a sweet, monochrome dream. Every sound was re-created from that moment, from narration to sound effects. It made it immediate and real, fun and exciting.

I, therefore, strongly urge anyone with the means to head to Berlin and watch the live performance of the film, which has already sparkled in Toronto and New York City. I have no idea if another screening like this will happen, and it's with Isabella Rossellini,* oft-collaborator of Maddin. It's sure to be an amazing one-time experience and a great reason to take a few days off and travel in the New Year. Better yet, it'd be the perfect cherry to an international Valentine's Day, since the performance will start at 9:30 PM on February 15.

*Unfortunately, Rossellini wasn't the narrator for the Toronto performance, so I'd love to hear from any of you who might have seen her rendition in New York City. ...

It feels great to be home after 18 days on the road covering the Telluride and Toronto film festivals. I saw a lot of fantastic films over the last few weeks, and a few that were a little ... well, not so great. After the peace and tranquility of Telluride, it took me a little adjusting to get accustomed to Toronto. Now that a couple weeks has passed, I can kind of look back with a sense of humor on my day spent traveling to Toronto. It went something like this:

7AM -- Load up suitcases into rental car (stylin' Ford Escape) and drive the three or so hours to Gunnison, the airport from which I will be departing.

9AM -- Get stuck on a mountain pass behind three semis hauling livestock, a rental RV hauling a car, and numerous cars between me in a no-pass zone that stretches for miles. And miles.

11:20AM -- Whip into Gunnison Airport parking lot. Park the rental car and go to find a luggage cart. The airport, in spite of serving Crested Butte, Telluride and other ski areas, has no luggage carts, so I must simultaneously get all my stuff out of the rental car and into the airport, by myself, without violating the security rule about leaving bags unattended. It feels like I've stepped into a logic puzzle at a Microsoft interview.

I've been taking my trusty camera when I go to screenings, and I've taken some shots of Toronto that I think provide an interesting contrast to the photos I took while at the Telluride Film Festival. Toronto is a large, bustling city, full of lots of interesting people and buildings. I hear all the celebs are hiding out in the Four Seasons (above), but I'm more interested in capturing the essence of Toronto itself during the film festival. Sadly, today -- the one day I didn't bring my camera -- there were two parades down Yonge Street, where our hotel is located.

The first, this morning, was a Tai Chi Awareness Day parade -- led by a band of marching bagpipe players in kilts. Later in the day, traffic ground to a halt for the Jesus City Parade, which, I assure you, you would have to see to believe. I was kicking myself for not grabbing my camera to get pics of that, because it was just so colorful, vibrant and fascinating. At any rate, below the fold are some more pictures, and hopefully they'll give you a feel for Toronto during one of the most important film festivals in the world.