Somewhat autobiographical work is part of 92YTribeca Guy Maddin film series
MY WINNIPEG (Guy Maddin, 2008)
92YTribeca
200 Hudson St. at Canal St.
Friday, January 15, $10, 10:30
212-415-5500
www.92YTribeca.org/film
www.ifcfilms.com/films/my-winnipeg
In 2008, Guy Maddin (THE SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD, CAREFUL) returned to the Tribeca Film Festival, where his splendid cinematic installation COWARDS BEND THE KNEE was a hit in 2003, with MY WINNIPEG, an insanely brilliant homage to his native city. In MY WINNIPEG, he pays tribute to the long, bizarre history of the title Canadian province, which sits directly in the middle of North America, what Maddin refers to as the “heart of the heart of the continent.” Combining archival footage with newly re-created scenes, all of which look like faded newsreels and early, degraded prints, Maddin, in voice-over narration, tells of horses buried in ice with their heads sticking out, the Happyland amusement park, Ledge Man, the Hudson’s Bay Company, stampedes, spirit photography and seances, a beauty pageant for men, local scavenger hunts in which the winner gets a ticket out of town, and other strange elements; one of the many joys of the film is not knowing what is exactly true and what is invention, although there is more fact here than you might think. “Everything that happens in this city is a euphemism,” Maddin says, just to keep us guessing. He also gets personal in the film, which he calls a “docu-fantasia,” with many scenes focusing on his mother — or an actress playing his mother. A masterful meditation on memory, MY WINNIPEG is one of Maddin’s most accomplished, most accessible works, the successor to such classic avant-garde filmmakers as Dali and Bunuel (UN CHIEN ANDALOU), Brakhage (DOG STAR MAN), and Welles (F FOR FAKE). The screening is part of the 92YTribeca’s Guy Maddin Film Series, which continues on January 22-23 with TALES FROM GIMLI HOSPITAL (1988), preceded by MY DAD IS 100 YEARS OLD, and on January 29-30 with THE SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD (2003). To get a little taste of what Maddin is all about, you can check out many of his short films, including NUDE CABOOSE, FUSEBOY, A TRIP TO THE ORPHANAGE, and SISSY-BOY SLAP-PARTY, on YouTube. Don’t worry about feeling like you’re “stealing” them by seeing them for free; Maddin put them up there himself.