For the second and probably last time in Toronto, Maddin's newest, silent narrative is given the full treatment - with narrator, adult male soprano, orchestra and foley artists - at the Elgin, and let me tell you, this is a far, far better use for that space than "The Who's Tommy" or "Steppin' Out", the only other times I've ventured in. The tale of Guy's lighthouse-keeper headmistress vampire mother and her daughter's seduction by a crossdressing children's-book heroine is even more washed-out and cut to ribbons than the Maddin norm - he's almost filling the silence with images, like Eisenstein, so that it can work on its own when the frills are stripped away. I guess some day I'll find out whether it achieves that goal, but for this one the frills are what made it. I sat there the whole time thinking, THIS is what professionalism is for - a tenuous common language which enables an impossible range of individual weirdos to join forces and do their thing on a scale of grand spectacle. At times I drifted away from the glorious goings-on on screen, just to watch the wonderful Louis Negin's mousey mincing expostulations, or Andy Malcolm twisting celery, or that soprano sitting in his easy chair thinking about who knows what, waiting for his 90 seconds of true mind-boggling glory. One of the most exciting experiences I've ever had watching a movie.
Review of Brand Upon the Brain!
