"My Winnipeg"
(Credit: IFC)
- Running time:
- 80 minutes
- Director:
- Guy Maddin
- Genre:
- Docudrama, Documentary
- Overall User Rating:
-
(1 rating)
Big question: Can Maddin ("Brand Upon the Brain!") use his typically quirky style to paint a vivid documentary portrait of his hometown and, in turn, himself?
Catch it: Delightfully loopy and sincerely original, "My Winnipeg" is Maddin revealing both love and resentment for his past, while refusing to do things the easy way and being that much more exceptional for it. The film could've done with more actual autobiography and fewer of the jokey silent film techniques seen in "Brand Upon the Brain!," but "Winnipeg" will entertain and challenge you to ask how different you might be coming from a different family in a different city.
Skip it: If you're not interested in useful, potentially accurate facts about Winnipeg such as: Its only original TV show was "LedgeMan," in which everyday a young man is convinced not to commit suicide; Local kids are often impaled by garbage while skiing on a hill that doubles as a landfill; Winnipeg makes it illegal to destroy any old signs; the first prize of a city treasure hunt was a one-way ticket out of town, but no one ever left; and many area residents used to believe that their furniture was haunted!
Bottom line: Viewing rivers as arteries and city policies as subliminal messages, Maddin turns Winnipeg into its people, and its people into a reflection of their home. That's a nifty trick, and a fine salute to a place that, like Maddin's mind, comes off as a packrat for barely surviving memories.
Bonus: Apparently Winnipeg residents sleepwalk around town holding keys to, and revisiting, old addresses. Have you ever heard a better metaphor for drunk-dialing?
[“My Winnipeg” is also available through “IFC In Theaters,” a video on demand service from select cable providers and DirecTV.]
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