Short films by Guy Maddin

 

"Glorious"

They have a number of Guy Maddin films featured on The Criterion Channel included some short films.

The movies are in high contrast black and white, filmed in very short takes, like a Soviet Experimental film. They're beautiful to watch and I got the vague impression of a storyline, but I have serious limitations trying to write about it.

I have one on now. Started as sort of gangster movie. People with guns looking out the windows of a house at night as police gather outside.

Then we see a guy sleeping. He dreams of his naked father. I assume it's his father. Maybe it's some other naked old guy.

There was more stuff. Ends with the naked old guy performing oral acts of love on mercifully fake penises poking through holes in a wall. Hence the title.

I hope it doesn't matter that I gave away the ending.

One time I had a break at work. I sat there watching a Guy Maddin film on YouTube. Someone came up to talk to me so I hit pause, but realized I paused it on an image that was rather objectionable. The person either didn't notice or decided not to denounce me right there on the spot.

"Night Mayor"

With this movie, I read the Criterion Channel's description first. It explained that it was about an inventor who makes a television powered by the Aurora Borealis which broadcasts across Canada.

I marveled that they were able to discern a storyline to one of these things, but it turned out the film had a running narration explaining it.

I think I would have liked it better with the explanation but without the narration.