Brand Upon The Brain

At the top of my page I say I like innovative films and TV.



Well, whilst browsing the new Criterion DVD reviews on http://www.dvdtalk.com/ I stumbled across this curious looking DVD and director (Guy Maddin) that I had never heard of. The review intrigued me and I instantly set about finding the trailer. I definitely feel a need to check this film out. Apparently Maddin has made a career of making modern silent films, which of course are in b/w.

Brand Upon The Brain (2006) was apparently written in 5 weeks and shot in 1 week. What gets me intrigued is the live performance they gave for the film in NY, they had a live orchestra which is par for the course for silent features. The novelty was they had live foley artists* and live narration from Isabella Rossellini. From what I have read online they had different narrators on different nights like Lou Reed. On the DVD there is a audio option to choose your preferred narrator from the likes of Isabella Rossellini, Laurie Anderson, John Ashbery, Crispin Glover, Guy Maddin, Louis Negin, and Eli Wallach. I think I would choose The Ugly aka Eli Wallach option.

*the person who creates many of the natural, everyday sound effects in a film (Wikipedia)



Brand Of The Brain looks good but I think I like the look of Maddin's take on Dracula better. Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary (2002) looks amazing, to me anyway. Maddin has taken Bram Stoker's tale and made a film that is part horror film and part ballet with the music of Gustav Mahler. This might sound like a weird mix, but to me its inspired. It might not appeal to die hard Dracula fans of the Hammer films or Coppola's take on the old fanged menace of the night. If you go back further to F.W. Murnau's Nosfetratu (1922), the 1st filmed version of Dracula, there isn't much difference as they are both silent and b/w, oh and one has a dancing count. However you cannot compare the directors, editing or pace of these films as there is about 76 years between them. Murnau was a genius in his day but was limited by massive cameras and a static lens. Back then the camera didn't follow the action, the action was orchestrated to be within the frame. Maddin on the other hand has a very fluid camera and distinct editing style.

The only question now is do I buy or rent?

I think my 5 years of studying film has come out in this post.