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MadGez
Dont Mess with the Gez
Joined: Sun Oct 24, 2004 9:54 am Posts: 23379 Location: Melbourne Australia
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 Brand Upon the Brain!
Brand Upon the Brain! Quote: Brand Upon the Brain! is a 2006 silent film directed by Guy Maddin and produced by The Film Company. It premiered on September 8, 2006, at the Toronto International Film Festival with live accompaniment of the score by members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, several foley artists, and a narrator. Shot on location in Seattle, it is Maddin's first film made outside of Canada.
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What's your favourite movie summer? Let us know @
http://worldofkj.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=85934
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Wed Nov 12, 2008 11:49 pm |
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trixster
loyalfromlondon
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 6:31 pm Posts: 19697 Location: ville-marie
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 Re: Brand Upon the Brain!
kypade tell me if this is worth watching
_________________Magic Mike wrote: zwackerm wrote: If John Wick 2 even makes 30 million I will eat 1,000 shoes. Same. Algren wrote: I don't think. I predict. 
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Thu Nov 13, 2008 12:10 am |
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kypade
Kypade
Joined: Sat Oct 30, 2004 10:53 pm Posts: 7908
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 Re: Brand Upon the Brain!
It's the most incredible thing I've experienced in a long, long time. It's unlike just about any film I've ever seen and is so crazy that I'm hesitant to say "Yes, you should watch it." On the other hand, I wouldnt mind if everyone on earth had to watch it. So I'm gonna go with yes, it's worth watching.
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Thu Nov 13, 2008 12:19 am |
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Johnny Dollar
The Lubitsch Touch
Joined: Thu Jul 21, 2005 5:48 pm Posts: 11019
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 Re: Brand Upon the Brain!
So, you liked it, then? I don't trust this Maddin guy. I've never seen one of his films, but I get disturbing hipster vibes from everything he touches. Geez, I'm starting to sound like Armond White in my old age.
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Thu Nov 13, 2008 12:21 am |
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trixster
loyalfromlondon
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 6:31 pm Posts: 19697 Location: ville-marie
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 Re: Brand Upon the Brain!
yoshue wrote: So, you liked it, then? I don't trust this Maddin guy. I've never seen one of his films, but I get disturbing hipster vibes from everything he touches. Geez, I'm starting to sound like Armond White in my old age. And you liked Juno. You disgust me.
_________________Magic Mike wrote: zwackerm wrote: If John Wick 2 even makes 30 million I will eat 1,000 shoes. Same. Algren wrote: I don't think. I predict. 
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Thu Nov 13, 2008 12:26 am |
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kypade
Kypade
Joined: Sat Oct 30, 2004 10:53 pm Posts: 7908
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 Re: Brand Upon the Brain!
Yknow, I had the same sorta thoughts on him. I only knew him by reputation, (and I'd seen his 6 minute short on youtube), and I wasnt very eager to learn more. But then, this year he made My Winnipeg, and everyone loved it and I heard or saw a clip or something, and I really, really wanted to see it. Coupled with Criterion putting out this film, I figured I'd give it a shot. But still when I finally got it at home, I just let it sit and sit. I got it October 16th, and only today watched it. I just had uneasy feelings about the whole thing.
But it's really something special.
It honestly wouldn't surprise me if you didn't like it, though, yoshue. If makeshift didn't like it, I'd be surprised. But if you came in and were mixed, or worse, I wouldn't think twice.
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Thu Nov 13, 2008 12:29 am |
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kypade
Kypade
Joined: Sat Oct 30, 2004 10:53 pm Posts: 7908
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 Re: Brand Upon the Brain!
But you should definitely watch it.
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Thu Nov 13, 2008 12:30 am |
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Johnny Dollar
The Lubitsch Touch
Joined: Thu Jul 21, 2005 5:48 pm Posts: 11019
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 Re: Brand Upon the Brain!
trixster wrote: yoshue wrote: So, you liked it, then? I don't trust this Maddin guy. I've never seen one of his films, but I get disturbing hipster vibes from everything he touches. Geez, I'm starting to sound like Armond White in my old age. And you liked Juno. You disgust me. Aww, dear, sweet, compassionate Juno. What a treat. Loved that movie. So, in conclusion, suck it, hater internet hipster douche. I loved when all the internet hipsters turned on the movie about the faux-hipster. What cord it struck, I wondered?
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Thu Nov 13, 2008 12:30 am |
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Johnny Dollar
The Lubitsch Touch
Joined: Thu Jul 21, 2005 5:48 pm Posts: 11019
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 Re: Brand Upon the Brain!
kypade wrote: Yknow, I had the same sorta thoughts on him. I only knew him by reputation, (and I'd seen his 6 minute short on youtube), and I wasnt very eager to learn more. But then, this year he made My Winnipeg, and everyone loved it and I heard or saw a clip or something, and I really, really wanted to see it. Coupled with Criterion putting out this film, I figured I'd give it a shot. But still when I finally got it at home, I just let it sit and sit. I got it October 16th, and only today watched it. I just had uneasy feelings about the whole thing.
But it's really something special.
It honestly wouldn't surprise me if you didn't like it, though, yoshue. If makeshift didn't like it, I'd be surprised. But if you came in and were mixed, or worse, I wouldn't think twice. Fair enough. I'll add it to the queue.
_________________ k
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Thu Nov 13, 2008 12:31 am |
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trixster
loyalfromlondon
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 6:31 pm Posts: 19697 Location: ville-marie
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 Re: Brand Upon the Brain!
yoshue wrote: trixster wrote: yoshue wrote: So, you liked it, then? I don't trust this Maddin guy. I've never seen one of his films, but I get disturbing hipster vibes from everything he touches. Geez, I'm starting to sound like Armond White in my old age. And you liked Juno. You disgust me. Aww, dear, sweet, compassionate Juno. What a treat. Loved that movie. So, in conclusion, suck it, hater internet hipster douche. I loved when all the internet hipsters turned on the movie about the faux-hipster. What cord it struck, I wondered? I think you're the first person to ever accuse me of being a hipster.
_________________Magic Mike wrote: zwackerm wrote: If John Wick 2 even makes 30 million I will eat 1,000 shoes. Same. Algren wrote: I don't think. I predict. 
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Thu Nov 13, 2008 12:32 am |
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Johnny Dollar
The Lubitsch Touch
Joined: Thu Jul 21, 2005 5:48 pm Posts: 11019
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 Re: Brand Upon the Brain!
I accuse all people who watch an excess of David Cronenberg and/or Brian DePalma hipsters, regardless of whether or not its accurate. I think it's fun.
Thus, I would throw the same accusation at makeshift.
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Thu Nov 13, 2008 12:34 am |
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kypade
Kypade
Joined: Sat Oct 30, 2004 10:53 pm Posts: 7908
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 Re: Brand Upon the Brain!
Hm...trixster...hipster.
There might be something to this.
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Thu Nov 13, 2008 12:37 am |
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trixster
loyalfromlondon
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 6:31 pm Posts: 19697 Location: ville-marie
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 Re: Brand Upon the Brain!
Ugh. I fold.
I just can't compete!
_________________Magic Mike wrote: zwackerm wrote: If John Wick 2 even makes 30 million I will eat 1,000 shoes. Same. Algren wrote: I don't think. I predict. 
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Thu Nov 13, 2008 12:38 am |
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kypade
Kypade
Joined: Sat Oct 30, 2004 10:53 pm Posts: 7908
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 Re: Brand Upon the Brain!
Alright. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, how about you both start watching this movie. : )
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Thu Nov 13, 2008 12:48 am |
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trixster
loyalfromlondon
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 6:31 pm Posts: 19697 Location: ville-marie
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 Re: Brand Upon the Brain!
As soon as the DVD gets to the library. It's currently "on order".
_________________Magic Mike wrote: zwackerm wrote: If John Wick 2 even makes 30 million I will eat 1,000 shoes. Same. Algren wrote: I don't think. I predict. 
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Thu Nov 13, 2008 12:50 am |
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Bradley Witherberry
Extraordinary
Joined: Sat Oct 30, 2004 1:13 pm Posts: 15197 Location: Planet Xatar
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 Re: Brand Upon the Brain!
Here's my original review from the June '07 thread in Foreign & Independent... Bradley Witherberry wrote: Brand Upon The Brain!: Silent Eruption...Woah, Woe, Woah! Brand Upon The Brain! is the new film from the lens of wacked out auteur director Guy Maddin. After his previous, most mainstream film, 2003's The Saddest Music in the World - a fantastic movie, and my first glimpse of his work, Maddin has leapt out into the abyss with this silent, B&W meditation on the depths of the psyche plumbed through memory. It is seriously faaaaaaarrrrr out there! One funny comment I read, said that Brand Upon The Brain! is for filmgoers who felt that David Lynch's Inland Empire was too transparent for them... This is a gem for those into gemmology... 8 out of 5.
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Thu Nov 13, 2008 1:50 am |
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makeshift
Teenage Dream
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 12:20 am Posts: 9247
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 Re: Brand Upon the Brain!
I think the best thing I could say about Guy Maddin's movies are they are seriously among the most purely alive movies I've ever seen. The schizophrenic jump-cutting, the lurid melodrama, the equally hilarious and of-putting black comedy...
I dunno, I think the fact that his films feel like a piece of his brain was ripped out of his skull and thrown across celluloid creates this deeply uncomfortable, but extremely provocative and entrancing experience.
My Winnipeg is the most complete (and probably most accessible) Maddin film I've seen, but Brand Upon the Brain! is equally brilliant.
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Thu Nov 13, 2008 2:11 am |
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makeshift
Teenage Dream
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 12:20 am Posts: 9247
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 Re: Brand Upon the Brain!
yoshue wrote: I accuse all people who watch an excess of David Cronenberg and/or Brian DePalma hipsters, regardless of whether or not its accurate. I think it's fun.
Thus, I would throw the same accusation at makeshift. I'll take this as a compliment, considering you just named-dropped two of the all time great filmmakers. Huzzah!
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Thu Nov 13, 2008 2:15 am |
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trixster
loyalfromlondon
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 6:31 pm Posts: 19697 Location: ville-marie
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 Re: Brand Upon the Brain!
It's not as coherent or enjoyable as My Winnipeg, but it's perhaps even more interesting. Whereas that film was clearly an essayistic look at Maddin's hometown (albeit filtered through his fractured psyche), this is, somehow, even stranger and idiosyncratic-er.
My friend and I were talking about it after we watched it, and while we both enjoyed it - a lot - we find there's not a lot of universality or generality that can be applied to Maddin's work. They're very much his films - representations of his beautifully disturbed mind - and so they don't have a lot of outside meaning. In a way, they're just him attempting to work out his various childhood anxieties - sexual frustration, Oedipal guilt, incestuous inclinations - through these wonderfully bizarre avant-garde silent films. Though some might find his distinctive style indulgent or annoying, I truly love it.
Also, we were able to attend a speech given by one of my profs (who's just finished writing a book on Maddin) on this film, and that cleared up a lot of the lingering ambiguities as far as thematic meaning and symbolism. That's not to say I've "figured it out", but I certainly get what Maddin's trying to do.
It's not an easy film to like, or even watch, but I really dug it. I dunno. Maybe I am a hipster.
_________________Magic Mike wrote: zwackerm wrote: If John Wick 2 even makes 30 million I will eat 1,000 shoes. Same. Algren wrote: I don't think. I predict. 
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Mon Feb 16, 2009 8:20 pm |
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Bradley Witherberry
Extraordinary
Joined: Sat Oct 30, 2004 1:13 pm Posts: 15197 Location: Planet Xatar
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 Re: Brand Upon the Brain!
trixster wrote: It's not as coherent or enjoyable as My Winnipeg, but it's perhaps even more interesting. Not to take away from your hipster cred, but have you seen The Saddest Music In The World? It's perhaps Maddin's most "linear" and accessible film and stars the incomparable Isabella Rossellini. Damned if I can find my original review for it, but it was my first Maddin film and it blew me away to the point that I'm now hooked me for life...  (I've still gotta go back and see his early stuff, but I hate watching this level of brilliance on a TV screen. It's time for an All-Maddin film festival!)
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Mon Feb 16, 2009 9:00 pm |
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trixster
loyalfromlondon
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 6:31 pm Posts: 19697 Location: ville-marie
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 Re: Brand Upon the Brain!
I have not seen it. It's definitely on my to-watch list.
I was lucky enough to catch this at a special showing at my arthouse (it was actually presented in conjunction with my prof's speech). It certainly made the viewing more enjoyable, even though the theatre was fairly empty.
_________________Magic Mike wrote: zwackerm wrote: If John Wick 2 even makes 30 million I will eat 1,000 shoes. Same. Algren wrote: I don't think. I predict. 
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Mon Feb 16, 2009 9:08 pm |
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junio
Indiana Jones IV
Joined: Sat May 07, 2005 2:23 pm Posts: 1778 Location: Guaynabo, Puerto Rico
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 Re: Brand Upon the Brain!
The Crispin Glover narration fit like a glove! After a botched effort in which I switched between the Rossellini/Maddin narration tracks and ended up turning it off and going to bed, I went back to this movie the other day and loved every minute of it. Maddin is so demented, his films can be hilarious at times. I keep saying he's like a modern Bunuel. I prefer The Saddest Music in the World and Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary to Brand but the film has its own genius. Guy Maddin is one of the very best directors working today and I feel confident saying that after only watching four of his movies. Next up for me is Careful.
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Sat Aug 21, 2010 9:08 pm |
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Bradley Witherberry
Extraordinary
Joined: Sat Oct 30, 2004 1:13 pm Posts: 15197 Location: Planet Xatar
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 Re: Brand Upon the Brain!
I encourage anyone interested in Guy Maddin to be sure to watch My Winnipeg, and of course, The Saddest Music in the World, and to start to get excited about his first new feature film in four years, in production now, with Jason Patric and Isabella Rosellini, due out next year... Keyhole !
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Sun Aug 22, 2010 12:52 am |
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