Brand Upon the Brain!

Guy Maddin bares his soul and the closest I can get to figuring him out is that he's Canadian.

Breathtaking. Maddin's style reaching its summit. Glimpses revealed themselves in "Careful", "Saddest Music..." and "Cowards bend the Knee", but here the fragmentary "blink-and-you-miss-it" editing, great compositions and weird, dark humor really come together and is even rendered touching, heartfelt through Rosselini's great narration and the all around expressive acting. I thought this approach only worked in short films (his superb "The Heart of the World"). I was wrong. This is cinema.

Guy Maddin's revisionist history of Guy Maddin. Guy Maddin's revisionist history of Cinema itself. Maddin's kind of cinema strives for truth - not BEHIND the Secrets!, but WITHIN the Secrets! Contradictory? Naturally.

Guy Maddin invented his own genre, and he's the only person who makes movies in it.

"It takes the weight of many orphans to keep father's casket in the earth"

I just think Guy Maddin is the purest kind of artist and really admire that he lets his creative north star be like, seeing his dad's weiner as a kid

Flat, ugly and ultimately incomprehensible mish-mash of images, themes and styles may well play better in a "live" setting, and indeed the film plays more as an art gallery set piece than as a movie. Perhaps it is more stimulating if you are on Maddin's very particular (or peculiar) wavelength, but it quickly becomes tough going if you are out of that particular loop.

A film that is creative and experimental, but grounded in effective storytelling technique, creating a magical experience. It's such a warm film despite the insanity and made me genuinely happy. Little Guy is a fantastic character and his adventure, both emotional and physical, in the film is a delight to watch. For all of the film's experimentation the narrative is very pulpy and engaging, and the chapter break style is one that works incredibly well at pacing the film.

May be the most Guy Maddin of all Guy Maddin films. Filled with his obsessions with German Expressionism, B-movies, fairy tales, and general batfuck insanity, this film is probably the best introduction to Guy Maddin's style, and one of his most captivating. Maddin is definitely the most interesting film-maker working today, and every film of his is an event.

Stunning imagery and a dreamy sequence that would've made the Surrealists proud. Maddin has matured since 'Careful' and 'The Saddest Music in the World'. The stylistic tribute to the silent era is a perfect match with his autobiographical story about revisiting old memories. The film can feel slightly pretentious but it's grounded by its fascinating mixture of the realistic and the bizarre, the affectingly personal along with the absolutely confounding. Even so, a bit too weird for me.

Maddin's epressionist gaze works as always.

Fascinating.

Dr Caligari, La Jetée and Moominpappa At Sea thrown into a blender and topped up with Canadian Club. Not a movie to watch casually or too drunkenly, but I'll be damned if it's not some sort of masterpiece.

Maddin deserves praise for coming up with his very own aesthetic and narrative form, here creating a radical pastiche of fictional autobiography and silent era genres, and stretched to full length. However, Brand Upon the Brain is a chore to watch. Both the plot and the visuals are intentionally hard to follow, and after a while tedium is the primary effect.

Absolutely unwatchable, pretentious bullshit that can induce seizures with the amount of cuts

Gördüklerim içinde en eğlenceli Guy Maddin filmi. Sadece dış ses kullanılmış, sessiz film estetiğinde bir film ancak bu kadar izlenilir olabilir. Ses bandı muazzam.

This is an oniric movie that has a lot of surrealist elements, quite enjoyable, it has a really different style in filmmaking and narrating which is interesting. The only bad thing is that the plot and visual style is a bit repetitive and the plot in the middle flats out to pick the rhythm again in the end.

I don't get it.

As Maddin attempts to paint over the memories of his past instead he finds himself trapped by them. Also: the harp-playing detectives!

I can honestly say I've never seen anything like it.

The visual design, the editing, and the fantasy logic are fantastic. All the elements come together to create a truly unique cinematic experience.

3 Shaqtaculars

Maddin at his most impressionistic and poetic, while still retaining his playful absurdist edge. Captivating.

Everything about this is telling me to love it, and yet, my resistance stays strong. The whole thing just feels tired at a certain point (though, never too strongly).

It is clear that so very much effort went into this production, I don't even want to imagine editing this film. It seemed like there was a cut every 2 seconds or so, and I respect Madden's unique vision. Despite that, it's just not my cup of tea.

Just seemed mediocre. I don't care about your childhood, sir, unless I care about you.

"...a tattered, brittle thing of sublime beauty that is as stirring as it is decrepit..."

It's unlikely you will walk away from this without some strong opinions. Maddin, you'll either love him or hate him, but if you're not sure, try this one first.

Story and the style is engaging. But the rapid cuts are too tiresome after 10 minutes and doesn't work in an otherwise wonderful movie's favor.

Maddin gives us a heavily impressionistic look at his childhood, complete with teen detectives, gender shenanigans, brain-drinking parents, and resurrection. As always, his visual style is strikingly unique, and the accompanyment of live music, foley and narration is a great idea. The frenetic editing can be taxing, however. Having to absorb so many images makes the movie feel much longer than it is, and although I mostly enjoyed it, I think Maddin would be better off working with short films.

Not really that clever, funny, or engaging, even if you see it live