Keep an Eye on Guy
Added 4/14/2004
I'll never forget the first time I saw a Guy Maddin film--it was "Tales from Gimli Hospital." When it ended I sat quietly for a few moments and just muttered "Holy Cow" over and over. "Gimli" is an early and very low budget effort. "Careful" shows Guy nearing a peak that hopefully will go on for a few more decades.Guy somehow (and miraculously) manages to sum up the entire history of cinema in his work. While there's much chatter about his obvious retro style, few have noticed his nods to Godard and more recent filmmakers. He may seem to mimic early films with missing frames and soundtrack problems but these "affectations" are ultimately as expressive as the equivalent jump cuts and soundtrack dropouts in Godard's "Alphaville." They're richer too because of the inevitable multiple associations. His amazing short, "Heart of the World" (one of the best shorts I've ever seen) owes as much to modern MTV editing styles as it does to early Soviet cinema (and creates a bridge and dialogue between two seemingly unrelated creative eras). Guy's not an artsy filmmaker, he's just a "guy" who loves movies passionately and works, unselfconsciously, with film's full lexicon.
"Careful" is a beautiful (often breathtakingly gorgeous), complex, unique, and very funny film. He's made a disturbing comedy about tragic and sensitive issues or maybe a tragedy about comic issues--there's something almost Shakespearean about his output. He also has a knack for getting memorable performances from his actors.
No this film isn't for everyone--right now at least--but I'm convinced we are currently witnessing the appearance of one of film's truly great creative geniuses. His films make one realize how stunningly shallow so many modern movies are, overburdened with flashy technologies like CGI, mandatory pop-cultural references, pretty people, and consumerism. His output is also a challenge to the equally bankrupt "underground" or "counter-culture." By avoiding every modern cliché, trend, anti-trend, technology, anti-technology, and pretense in his work he's giving us, in this film and others, timeless and (a rare thing these days) sublime works that are, even after all this lofty commentary, still pretty damned funny!
13 out of 13 people found this helpful.
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campy, ultra goofy, grossly arty and dull
Added 12/27/2003
Interesting looking, but mostly dull art film. What I gather that the filmmakers are trying to convey - from the title and the movie - is that incest runs rampant - and if it were brought into the open - would cause a metaphorical societal avalanch.
But its torture to sit though this very slow moving, harebrained film for that message. I found this expensive looking purposely choppy film's acting, color photography, story, characters, dialogue dubbing and sound effects to be grossly arty, annoying and not compelling or funny (goofy does not equal funny)...although I will say that a few of the Lynchian style jokes were mildly amusing.
As for an original art film? - Pop psychology, extensive symbolism, intentional camp, and sets that imitate German expressionism have already been done ...ad-nauseum. What might be considered original here is that the director chose to parody the style and mood of European mountain climbing films. Frankly I've never watched an entire one of these but let it be clear that European mountain climbing films are extremely esoteric - so who is Careful made for...15 people?
The most preposterous thing is that the guys that made the goofy Careful thought so much of themselves that they had the nerve to make fun of someone else's film.
I'd recommend Careful for art students, but why? When you can still see all the original films that Careful imitates. Without being able to recommend Careful to anyone - Id still give Careful four stars in that - the techinical people such as set designers, photographers, film and sound editors were obviously talented and meticulous about their craft. Also that the producers and the director had the nerve, talent, gall or perseverance to capture their warped vision on celluloid. But I take away 2 stars for being monotonous, dull and one more of thousands of pretentious, blurry, out of focus, over budgeted student art film projects.
By the way - did I read the end credits right? Is this the kind of thing Canadians are spending their tax dollars on?
The quality of the film stock, sound and extras provided by Kino Video are excellent.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Recommended by Leni Reifenstahl!
Added 5/3/2003
When Maddin showed this homage to kitschy, proto-Nazi German "mountain films" (if you have no idea what I'm talking about, see Susan Sontag's essay "Fascinating Fascism) to their one-time star and later Nazi propogandist filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, she proclaimed it brilliant--high praise coming from a demented genius. Maddin is also a demented genius, though not of the same ilk as Reifenstahl. Maddin and regular screenwriting collaborator George Toles, the cerebral bad boys of Canadian cinema, are at their naughtiest and cheekiest here, paying tribute to racist kitsch, promoting repression, and playing with Freud's concept of family romance. Although after you see this movie you may need to re-think the concept of "bad boys"...The film's homage to German expressionism has been widely noted, but Maddin and Toles, no typical film students, are also deeply versed in studio-era Hollywood melodrama (if you don't believe me, see Toles's book of film criticism, "A House Made of Light"), and there's an intriguing family melodrama here underneath the multiple layers of stylization, allusions to the history of cinema, and Maddin's quirky obsessions--with ritual, for example. In other words, it's not all a postmodern in-joke, so if you like your nihilism old-fashioned, based in the self-destructive human psyche--get it here. This is Maddin's best feature film, in my opinion, because it has an hilarious and lucid premise from which the absurdist tragedy logically unfolds, which is also a brilliant psychological trope: in the isolated mountain village of Tolsbad (a metaphor for Canada, duh) the citizens must be careful not to raise their voices above a whisper or cause any other kind of disturbance for fear of causing an avalanche. After watching this film, if you have children or small siblings you may become disturbingly aware of how many times per hour in how many contexts you use the word "Careful!" Should be seen as a double-bill with Cronenberg's "Dead Ringers" for anyone who wants to understand the Canadian psyche--but then again, believe me, you don't.
7 out of 8 people found this helpful.
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Snowy Surrealism
Added 4/11/2003
One of Guy Maddin's best-known films, Careful is naturally, extremely bizarre. The inhabitants of a mountain village must be careful not to make a noise loud enough to trigger an avalanche, which would bury them all. Naturally ther are all repressed, sexually as well as literally.
The film is often very funny, with great lines of dialogue such as "here is all the hair I've lost in the past few weeks." Even the Oedipal elements are so melodramatic they're pretty chuckly. The colour scheme is pretty painful on the eyes, and often irritating, but it does make the film what it is.
2 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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Uh... Bizarre, beautiful, but...
Added 1/30/2003
Great sets & costumes, like a beautifully odd dream. But it is slow and there's no reason to care for any of these characters, so I lost interest.
I'm glad to have seen it, but much more glad that I didn't buy it.
1 out of 4 people found this helpful.
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Keep an Eye on Guy
Added 4/14/2004
I'll never forget the first time I saw a Guy Maddin film--it was "Tales from Gimli Hospital." When it ended I sat quietly for a few moments and just muttered "Holy Cow" over and over. "Gimli" is an early and very low budget effort. "Careful" shows Guy nearing a peak that hopefully will go on for a few more decades.Guy somehow (and miraculously) manages to sum up the entire history of cinema in his work. While there's much chatter about his obvious retro style, few have noticed his nods to Godard and more recent filmmakers. He may seem to mimic early films with missing frames and soundtrack problems but these "affectations" are ultimately as expressive as the equivalent jump cuts and soundtrack dropouts in Godard's "Alphaville." They're richer too because of the inevitable multiple associations. His amazing short, "Heart of the World" (one of the best shorts I've ever seen) owes as much to modern MTV editing styles as it does to early Soviet cinema (and creates a bridge and dialogue between two seemingly unrelated creative eras). Guy's not an artsy filmmaker, he's just a "guy" who loves movies passionately and works, unselfconsciously, with film's full lexicon.
"Careful" is a beautiful (often breathtakingly gorgeous), complex, unique, and very funny film. He's made a disturbing comedy about tragic and sensitive issues or maybe a tragedy about comic issues--there's something almost Shakespearean about his output. He also has a knack for getting memorable performances from his actors.
No this film isn't for everyone--right now at least--but I'm convinced we are currently witnessing the appearance of one of film's truly great creative geniuses. His films make one realize how stunningly shallow so many modern movies are, overburdened with flashy technologies like CGI, mandatory pop-cultural references, pretty people, and consumerism. His output is also a challenge to the equally bankrupt "underground" or "counter-culture." By avoiding every modern cliché, trend, anti-trend, technology, anti-technology, and pretense in his work he's giving us, in this film and others, timeless and (a rare thing these days) sublime works that are, even after all this lofty commentary, still pretty damned funny!
13 out of 13 people found this helpful.
|
campy, ultra goofy, grossly arty and dull
Added 12/27/2003
Interesting looking, but mostly dull art film. What I gather that the filmmakers are trying to convey - from the title and the movie - is that incest runs rampant - and if it were brought into the open - would cause a metaphorical societal avalanch.
But its torture to sit though this very slow moving, harebrained film for that message. I found this expensive looking purposely choppy film's acting, color photography, story, characters, dialogue dubbing and sound effects to be grossly arty, annoying and not compelling or funny (goofy does not equal funny)...although I will say that a few of the Lynchian style jokes were mildly amusing.
As for an original art film? - Pop psychology, extensive symbolism, intentional camp, and sets that imitate German expressionism have already been done ...ad-nauseum. What might be considered original here is that the director chose to parody the style and mood of European mountain climbing films. Frankly I've never watched an entire one of these but let it be clear that European mountain climbing films are extremely esoteric - so who is Careful made for...15 people?
The most preposterous thing is that the guys that made the goofy Careful thought so much of themselves that they had the nerve to make fun of someone else's film.
I'd recommend Careful for art students, but why? When you can still see all the original films that Careful imitates. Without being able to recommend Careful to anyone - Id still give Careful four stars in that - the techinical people such as set designers, photographers, film and sound editors were obviously talented and meticulous about their craft. Also that the producers and the director had the nerve, talent, gall or perseverance to capture their warped vision on celluloid. But I take away 2 stars for being monotonous, dull and one more of thousands of pretentious, blurry, out of focus, over budgeted student art film projects.
By the way - did I read the end credits right? Is this the kind of thing Canadians are spending their tax dollars on?
The quality of the film stock, sound and extras provided by Kino Video are excellent.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Recommended by Leni Reifenstahl!
Added 5/3/2003
When Maddin showed this homage to kitschy, proto-Nazi German "mountain films" (if you have no idea what I'm talking about, see Susan Sontag's essay "Fascinating Fascism) to their one-time star and later Nazi propogandist filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, she proclaimed it brilliant--high praise coming from a demented genius. Maddin is also a demented genius, though not of the same ilk as Reifenstahl. Maddin and regular screenwriting collaborator George Toles, the cerebral bad boys of Canadian cinema, are at their naughtiest and cheekiest here, paying tribute to racist kitsch, promoting repression, and playing with Freud's concept of family romance. Although after you see this movie you may need to re-think the concept of "bad boys"...The film's homage to German expressionism has been widely noted, but Maddin and Toles, no typical film students, are also deeply versed in studio-era Hollywood melodrama (if you don't believe me, see Toles's book of film criticism, "A House Made of Light"), and there's an intriguing family melodrama here underneath the multiple layers of stylization, allusions to the history of cinema, and Maddin's quirky obsessions--with ritual, for example. In other words, it's not all a postmodern in-joke, so if you like your nihilism old-fashioned, based in the self-destructive human psyche--get it here. This is Maddin's best feature film, in my opinion, because it has an hilarious and lucid premise from which the absurdist tragedy logically unfolds, which is also a brilliant psychological trope: in the isolated mountain village of Tolsbad (a metaphor for Canada, duh) the citizens must be careful not to raise their voices above a whisper or cause any other kind of disturbance for fear of causing an avalanche. After watching this film, if you have children or small siblings you may become disturbingly aware of how many times per hour in how many contexts you use the word "Careful!" Should be seen as a double-bill with Cronenberg's "Dead Ringers" for anyone who wants to understand the Canadian psyche--but then again, believe me, you don't.
7 out of 8 people found this helpful.
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