October 30
| 7:00 p.m. | Careful Guy Maddin (Canada, 1992) |
High in some imaginary Alps, swathed in Expressionist shadow, sits the village of Tolzbad, where rosy-cheeked Aryans lead lives of utmost caution. Here, the smallest cry could trigger an avalanche, and the slightest misstep could be fatal; propriety is all, and passion is out of the question—until a young student at the Butler Gymnasium acts upon an incestuous dream. Then a Freudian maelstrom is unleashed, and the papier-mâché peaks shake with Sturm und Drang. A mountain film à la Leni Riefenstahl shot in a tawdry simulation of two-strip Technicolor, with purposely out-of-sync dubbing and drifts of audio snow, Careful represents a pinnacle of Maddin's talent for demented pastiche. But be careful—even while you chuckle at the film's stilted speeches and giddy absurdity, you may find yourself unexpectedly engulfed in an avalanche of emotion.
—Juliet Clark
• Written by Maddin, George Toles, based on a story by Toles. Photographed by Maddin. With Kyle McCulloch, Gosia Dobrowolska, Sarah Neville, Brent Neale. (100 mins, Color, 35mm, From Zeitgeist)
