Once again, Guy Maddin succeeds in creating a funny, challenging and introspective film. Funny in the characters and choice moments that he includes, challenging in the way the film lingers with the audience and introspective in his attempt to understand his obsession with Winnipeg, asking them to delve inside to figure out where the truth lies.
Maddin takes his audience on a carefully crafted tour through a series of Winnipeg's historical landmarks, narrating his own story and redefining what it means to be the author of your own story."" He demonstrates the tragedy of Winnipeg, and its abandonment of his favorite historical buildings and fast-fading traditions. It becomes apparent what are driving Maddin out of Winnipeg are the same ghosts keeping him there.
This pseudo-documentary seems to exercise a series of recurring questions about what ties him down to Winnipeg and to the past. The film itself contains many of his trademarks. The look and style of silent or early sound era films, dated editing devices, and death (Maddin's dead father makes his presence known in the film when shown literally underneath the living room rug) all coupled with strange stories and anecdotes.
The role of truth in ""My Winnipeg"" is certainly challenging. Do you believe that he was born in Winnipeg's arena during a game, nursed there and brought back the next day to view his first game? Of course you do, because Guy Maddin tells you this is truth. He explores the ideas of memory and perspective by recreating several of his childhood experiences and filming them - watching them reoccur and evaluating his reactions. He ultimately decides it's just as infuriating to watch his mother (Ann Savage) oversee the straightening of the hallway rug (that refuses to be straightened) as it was to actually experience it.
Maddin explores the ideas of perspective, bias and the role of truth, while guiding his audience through what he perceives to be Winnipeg and his own history. What he is looking for is a guardian, someone to oversee this history so that he knows it is safe. He must find this before he can take the train out of Winnipeg for good.
The battle is raging inside Maddin and the stakes are high. His filming techniques reflect this in the blurred images, the constant dream-like quality of the film and the heavily metaphoric language that speak to his attempt to wade through the course that his life has taken. Maddin's originality and creativity make for a truly fascinating and unpredictable viewing experience. There is little sense of what comes next, but the anticipation of what subconscious or abstract notion will surface keeps the viewer watching and waiting in anticipation.
Grade: A
