Guy Maddin (“The Saddest Music in the World”) is the most accessible (and successful) avant-garde filmmaker working today.
In “My Winnipeg,” the Canadian auteur takes the viewer on a historic tour of his childhood growing up in his small economically depressed town.
Maddin’s unflattering depiction of his mother (represented by ‘40s noir icon Ann Savage) as a cruel and neglectful woman comes across, as does his father’s dislocation after losing his job at the ice hockey stadium famous for popularizing the sport.
Shot in his signature black-and-white, the highly personal “docu-fantasy” sustains a dreamlike quality that freely allows non sequitur ideas, historical events, and memories to come alive.
Reality is dumb.
If you go into a Guy Maddin movie with an open mind, the rewards can be lasting.
Deeply personal transformative civic thought is the name of the game here.
Try it, you’ll experience it.
Not Rated. 80 mins.
