Guy Maddin has spent his career trying to replicate the 1920's German and Russian silent filmmakers' styles. To see today's stars, like Isabella Rossellini, splashed on the silver screen in The Saddest Music in the World in archaic textured film is a surreal experience. But Maddin has taken surreal to a whole new level in his latest film, My Winnipeg.
Described by Maddin as a "Docu-fantasia," My Winnipeg portrays the director's hometown and his experiences growing up there. The film is somewhat of therapy for Maddin, putting down in writing and on the big screen many of his remembrances, thoughts, opinions, and stories he heard while growing up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The melding of melo-dramatic silent-film style cinematography with archival footage from the past gives the film a real nostalgic feel.
The documentary aspects illuminate the town and its history, and reflect the original intent of the film. Madden was originally commissioned by Michael Burns of the Documentary Channel in Canada to do an "enchanting" documentary that looks past the frozen tundra cliché about Winnipeg. In this vain, the film's cinematography and use of archival footage present some beautiful imagery of Winnipeg.
But it was impossible for Maddin to ignore the personal attachments and experiences he had to the city while growing up, and do a straight documentary. His Winnipeg wasn't just the stories and history that were going on around him. It had to include the real-life circumstances and dramas of his childhood. So, he chose to use his distinctly nostalgic filmmaking style to re-create specific situations from his childhood in the movie. But he didn't stop at just filming these situations, he actually rented out his childhood home to film the scenes where they actually happened.
Maddin admits that there was some catharsis involved in the process. This is a real treat for viewers, though, as there is a rare vulnerability and self-disclosure of a filmmakers' personal life. Maddin also narrates the film in a poetic fashion by talking about Winnepeg, ruminating about his experiences there and even riffing Jack Karouac-style on his city.
There is no doubt that Guy Maddin has a connection to his hometown, and in My Winnipeg he lays it all out for everyone to see in dramatic black and white, surrounded by colorful words.