My Winnipeg (2007)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Guy Maddin

Writers:

Guy Maddin (written by) and
George Toles (dialogue writer)

Release Date:

4 July 2008 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | History

Plot:

A personal portrait of filmmaker Guy Maddin's hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba. |

Plot Keywords:

Hometown | Winnipeg | Hair Salon | Photograph | Shopping Mall

Awards:

3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Ann Savage	...	Mother
Louis Negin	...	Mayor Cornish
Amy Stewart	...	Janet Maddin
Darcy Fehr	...	Guy Maddin
Brendan Cade	...	Cameron Maddin
Wesley Cade	...	Ross Maddin
Lou Profeta	...	Himself
Fred Dunsmore	...	Himself
Kate Yacula	...	Citizen Girl
Jacelyn Lobay	...	Gwenyth Lloyd
Eric Nipp	...	Viscount Gort
Jennifer Palichuk	...	Althea Cornish
Deborah Carlson
Kevin Harris
Scott Hamel

Runtime:

Argentina:80 min | Canada:80 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color | Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:14A (Alberta/Manitoba/Ontario) | Canada:PG (British Columbia) | Canada:G (Québec) | Australia:M | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Company:

Buffalo Gal Pictures

Soundtrack:

Flight of the Wooden Spoon

A Fever Dream

A love poem to Canadian auteur Guy Maddin's soon-to-be-former home, MY WINNIPEG feels like a fever dream that brings together past, present, and future. Repeated words and phrases form a hypnotic cadence as Maddin's cinematic stand-in (Darcy Fehr) chugs through the snowy darkness. "Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Winnipeg," is the chant, rising and falling like the locomotive drone of the night train carrying its somnambulistic fares through Manitoba's premiere city.

Winnipeg; heart of the heart of Canada, the place that raised Maddin. With a hockey arena for a father and a hair salon for a mother (for more hockey and hairdressing see Maddin's earlier COWARD BENDS THE KNEE), Madding explores the structural arteries of his home town and revisits the history of himself and his city. Narrated by the filmmaker, the prose of the film (courtesy of long-time Maddin crony George Toles) is an overwrought poem of maniacal hyperbole and enthusiastic linguistic gymnastics; a perfect pitch for the fractured visuals of Maddin's multimedia pastiche. Looking like a daguerreotype picture postcard of this snowbound wonderland, MY WINNIPEG typifies Maddin's mad genius and captures his sordid relationship with his home.