Movie Review: Brand Upon the Brain!
Brand Upon the Brain! is a searingly original cinematic marvel from visionary director Guy Maddin, one that can only be better when seen the way it was meant to be seen. When I saw the film, the music, Foley sound effects and narration were integrated into the feature, just like they would be in any other film. Maddin’s vision, one that became reality at film festivals and special engagements around the globe, was to have his autobiographical silent film accompanied live by orchestras, narrators and Foley artists.
Oh, how I wish I had seen this film the way Maddin intended. As it stands, Brand Upon the Brain! is a brilliantly entertaining masterwork. To see it live must be an experience unequaled by anything in movie theaters today or in years.
To some, the live rollout may sound a tad gimmicky. Orchestral accompaniments and celebrity narrators like Geraldine Chaplin and Crispin Glover can easily grab headlines in the major newspapers. The film’s story, however, is Maddin’s personal meditation on his past, and that tale entrances as much as it’s innovative presentation.
We follow the character “Guy Maddin” (Erik Steffen Maahs) as he returns to Black Notch Island to paint the lighthouse/orphanage once run by his parents. The repair job is his mother’s dying wish. As he covers the long-neglected architecture and walks through his childhood stomping grounds, memories of an abusive, unstable mother, innocent friendships and sexual awakenings flood back. In those memories, young Guy (Sullivan Brown), his sister (Maya Lawson) and a fictional celebrity hero named Wendy Hale (Katherine E. Scharhon) attempt to unlock the secrets behind Guy’s father’s bizarre science experiments.
Wendy is a character from The Lightbulb Kids detective book series, which is one of the more inspired additions to a dark and unconventional vision. Her interaction with Guy and his sister is an ingenious manifestation of the adolescent desires that pulp can inspire. The androgynous Wendy, who dresses as her brother Chance to seduce the sister, illuminates a logical naiveté in Guy’s attraction and further complicates things by adding the uncertainty of sexuality.
Guy’s domineering mother doesn’t help matters either. This old woman sitting in her lighthouse spy chair and beckoning her children through the aerophone her husband invented is straight out of an early Jean-Pierre Jeunet film. So too is the mad scientist father who is developing a youth serum from the brains of the orphans. The whole surreal Bunuel-esque spectacle is a marvel to behold and is only amplified with the required visual storytelling of silent film.
Most of my excitement here comes from being a Maddin virgin. I’ve never seen any of his other work, but the effervescent genius behind Brand Upon the Brain! makes me think I should. Before I do that, I must find a way to see a live presentation of Brand. Yes, this version is funny. Yes, it’s entertaining. But this wild, wonderful silent film experience isn’t complete until we see it Maddin’s way—if only for the memories.
For screening information visit http://www.branduponthebrain.com.
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