Film Reviews

My Winnipeg

• Rating:
• Director: Guy Maddin
• Starring: Amy Stewart
• Details: Canada / 80mins (G).

I'm supposed to like Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg, a surreal documentary on the Canadian director's hometown: after all the bitching and childish moaning about the endless stream comedies that aren't funny and horror movies that aren't scary, anything off the beaten track would be a welcome distraction, right? Yes and no - distractions still must be entertaining and although My Winnipeg is different and sometimes interesting, it's never really engaging. A jack-of-all-trades documentary that mixes drama, reconstructions and animation, Maddin gives us a tour of his hometown, which he paints as a barren, dour place, and he recounts his youth, which he paints as a barren, dour time. Along the way he throws some interesting facts about the city at us, but rumour has it that they are historically inaccurate - is Maddin just having fun with us? With his poetic and whimsical stream of consciousness narration the director creates an ever-shifting mood that veers from downbeat to up and down again. What Maddin and My Winnipeg can be applauded for is its sporadic humour, sometime impressive visuals and, most importantly, for taking a different approach to the documentary. However, boredom is never far away and the incessant repetition of the same phrase over the same footage (a man trying to stay awake - an in-joke perhaps?) doesn't help.

Review by Gavin Burke