440 - Brand Upon The Brain! (2006)

Random Acts of Cinema

Oh! The past! The past! Now we've done it. We've made mother cross. Imagine that sort of text and occasional narration over a feature length, black and white, largely-silent film comprised of quick cuts, sporadic sound effects, and haunting imagery. Guy Maddin's experimental film is about an adult Guy (Erik Steffen Maas) recalling his childhood (as young Guy, played by Sullivan Brown) on an island, where his domineering mother (Gretchen Krich) ran an orphanage where they extracted a youth-bringing nectar from the skulls of their charges. He and his rebellious sister Sis (Maya Lawson) are visited by alluring and intrepid teenage detective Wendy Hale (Katherine E. Scharhon) determined to solve the mystery. And Isabella Rossellini narrates it. And that about sums it up.

If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Scott Hicks' Shine (1996)