The trailer for Guy Maddin’s fabulist documentary “My Winnipeg,” one our favorite films of 2008 thus far, is online. The film opens June 13 in presumably limited release (IFC is distributing) and we loved the shit out of its “wintry, snowglobe aesthetics,” its “eroticized adolescent Freudian examinations” and the kooky ” ’50s like paranoiac melodrama” within. Full synopsis below, but go out of your way to catch this one if you can. IFC does a pretty good job of putting all its film on OnDemand at the same time of release, so if you’re in a smaller city, this may be the way to go.
Have you ever wanted to relive your childhood and do things differently? Guy Maddin (THE SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD) casts B-movie icon Ann Savage as his domineering mother in attempt to answer that question in MY WINNPEG, a hilariously wacky and profoundly touching goodbye letter to his childhood hometown. A documentary (or “docu-fantasia” as Maddin proclaims) that inventively blends local and personal history with surrealist images and metaphorical myths, the film covers everything from the fire at the local park which lead to a frozen lake of distressed horse heads to pivotal and factually heightened scenes from Maddin’s own childhood, all laced with a startling emotional honesty. MY WINNIPEG is Maddin’s most personal film and a truly unique cinematic experience, winning the best Canadian film at the Toronto International Film Festival and the opening night selection of the Berlin Film Festival’s Forum.