Brand upon the Brain!

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Brand Upon the Brain! ★★★ 2006 (R)

Like most of writer/director Guy Maddin's work, this requires a deliberate viewing. A silent film in black and white sets up primarily as a flashback, possibly to the director's youth, set on an island with a lighthouse that has served as an orphanage in the past. Film moves freely through images and recollections, revealing secret longings within an utterly absurd plot for which the film is not the least diminished. Make no mistake, this is a grandly indulgent art film. But what did you expect? Most enjoyable is the narration by Isabella Rossellini. 95m/C DVD . CA US Erik Steffen Maahs, Sullivan Brown, Gretchen Krich, Maya Lawson, Todd Jefferson Moore, Katherine E. Scharhon; D: Guy Maddin; W: Guy Maddin, George Toles; C: Benjamin Kasulke; M: Jason Staczek; Nar: Isabella Rossellini.