Brand Upon the Brain! Review

DVD Review
Brand Upon the Brain! (2006): A Film by Guy Maddin

The primary function of the movies is to entertain, is it not? This would be where the term "the entertainment industry" is derived from.

"Brand Upon the Brain!," Maddin's homage to the silent film area, is nauseating. I have never been an enormous fan of the abstractness or pretentiousness of avant-garde films such as this. I believe that every film should maintain the capacity to entertain, make us think, and present us with something new every time. Well, one out of three ain't bad. This is my first time seeing a Guy Maddin film. I pray it is not considered his magnum opus.

The film follows around our hero, named (what else?) Guy Maddin. Guy and a group of orphans live in a lighthouse and are constantly watched over by their dictatorial and overbearing mother. Meanwhile, Guy's father, who is elusive and mysterious, works on strange experiments in his basement.

The plot somehow introduces sibling sleuths by the name of "The Lightbulb Kids" and several other quirks, but story doesn't matter here as much as style does.

The frantic editing and pace contribute to the nauseousness of the film. A barrage of sounds and sights (mostly sights) frustrate to an unbearable extent. Characters we care about, or are at least interested in, are an integral part of a successful film. "Brand Upon the Brain!" creates neither. The only noteworthy concept the film maintains is that I can honestly say I have never, ever seen another film like this one.

Perhaps I do not understand avant-garde films, as I seem to be in the minority in my judgement of the film. The film has recieved overwhelmingly positive reactions from critics. That a film like this could ever get made, with such abstract execution, story, and ideas, amazes me. Don't get me wrong - I am glad it exists, and I hope that one day I will return to it to try my best to understand it. For now, however, it remains nothing more than a series of loathsome Freudian lectures set to classical music, narrated by Isabella Rossellini.

Rating: 0.5/4 stars