Brand Upon the Brain Review- By Michael Carlisle

Title: Brand Upon the Brain

Year: 2006
Director: Guy Maddin
Country: Canada
Language: English

Before I begin my film review on Brand Upon the Brain I will give you a little introduction about the filmmaker; Winnipeg’s own Guy Maddin. Because I live in the same city as the great man, I have been in the same room as him four times so far. The first was in 2009 when I went with a couple of friends to the University of Manitoba to see his lecture titled Stripper Ghosts and Sofa Traumas. Though I did not talk to him that night, he seemed like a rather quiet and peaceful man. Nerves seemed to get the best of him that night as he did not look up from his papers as he was talking. I also met him in 2009 when I went to the world premiere of his short film The Little White Cloud that Cried. It was marvelous and though we spoke for only a few minutes I could tell that he had the soul of a poet. The third time I saw him was in 2010, or perhaps 2011, at a show at the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. I’m not sure why he spoke publicly, as this was not his environment. He seemed quite nervous as well, stumbling over his notes. I get the feeling that Guy Maddin s not a very confident man, or perhaps he is very humble. The fourth time I saw him was in the Summer of 2011 when I came across him in a grocery store. I approached him and told him that I just bought the Criterion version of Brand Upon the Brain and I really enjoyed it.  He acted like a very humble yet happy person and thanked me for the support. I did not have the film on me but he signed my mother’s grocery list. I put that list complete with autograph in the case for my copy of Brand Upon the Brain.

 Canadian Cinema has a history of being lackluster compared to American films, few Canadians can name ten great Canadian films yet have no problem shouting out plenty of their American favourites. I feel that this is rather unfortunate because it is quite necessary to support our fellow Canadian filmmakers in order to strengthen the film industry in Canada. It’s an act of “patriotism” that doesn’t involve going to war. Nevertheless , I feel that Guy Maddin is on the right path to re-invent Canadian Cinema and make it unique and interesting for the next generation of Canadian filmmakers. He has a unique style that is a modern homage to silent German expressionism, yet his twist is so unique one could argue that he has invented a whole new style of filmmaking. Whatever the case may be, his style is so different from the way films are usually made in 2012 that you will have no problem spotting his films from the rest.

Brand Upon the Brain  is especially incredible because it is not only a film, but a live theatre performance. Live foley artists will make the sounds of footsteps, doors creaking  and many other ominous noises. Live narrators will narrate the film, usually Maddin’s right hand lady Issabella Rosselini is at helm for this but in live theater any famous person can take a chance to narrate. On the Criterion DVD there are at least seven narrators you can choose from, one is the actor who plays the famous dad in the beloved 80’s time travel flick Back to the Future, his name is Crispin Glover. Complete with a live orchestra to play the beautiful and haunting score, Maddin  has quite the ear for incredible music to put into his films, Brand Upon the Brain would truely be a life altering experience. This is definetley going on my bucket list, I hope that Maddin eventually brings this event to his hometown for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra  to help undertake.

Weird, obsessive, brilliant. Oddly tGuy Maddin claimed this was his most autobiographical film, he wanted to pay homage to Fancois Trauffaut and his autobiographical film The 400 Blows, though when you watch the film you’ll wonder how screwed up Maddin’s childhood really was. This Poe-like film begins with a man named “Guy Maddin”  on a rowboat. His mother wished for him to put two coats of paint on the lighthouse on Black North Island, a former orphanage his family ran and the site of where the majority of his childhood took place. When Guy arrives he is subject to various flashbacks about his troubled childhood with his loving sister, distant father and incredibly controlling mother. We get a strong sense that she’s a “big brother” kind of character  as she stands atop the lighthouse, using  the telescope to oversee everything that happens on the island. Though this is an obvious exaggeration it is very relatable, who hasn’t felt suffocated by their mother or distanced by their father? Maddin’s childhood relations are quite common, it’s the way he portrays them, the way he shows how melodramatic he and perhaps every Canadian mother can be, which is unique.

I find it quite sensational the way Maddin can subtly switch genres throughout the film.  It can take us in wild directions yet we always feel secure that Brand Upon the Brain is in safe hands.  It goes from melodrama to horror to thriller to romance to Grimm fairy tale- all without skipping a beat.  Eventually the film becomes a murder mystery when it is discovered  that the there are mysterious holes in some orphans, also his mother seems to be aging backwards.

Does Maddin know he is a genius, that his films are capable are changing the landscape of modern Canadian Cinema? From my encounters with him, and seeing the nervous way he speaks in public, I would say no. He’s a man with a strong love for cinema, especially silent film, and just wishes to make incredibly entertaining films. He has the dreams of the common Canadian, with the mind consisting of a mix between Charlie Chaplin,  Edgar Allen Poe and Salvador Dali. A mad genius who seems unaware his own influence.

In Conclusion, you will absolutely love Brand Upon the Brain for its astonishing weirdness. A unique experience that triumphs anything a modern American film that give you. Use this as an introduction to not only Guy Maddin, but to Canadian films in general. It is the best film of the 21^st Century, the Criterion edition of the  film is well worth the money. I’m positive that because of Brand Upon the Brain generations and generation of people will become engulfed in Canadian Cinema.  Praise it! 5/5