Thanks to the local papers we were reminded of the appearance of this traveling minstrel show of a film at the LA Cinemateque's Egyptian Theater and we saw the blessed performance of Sunday night, June 10. It turned out to be one of the cinematic events of the year; so many people were involved in pulling off the live soundscore that accompanied this silent film by Guy Maddin. From the lost city of Winnipeg, Canada, Maddin has carved a unique spot for himself in the film festival circuit, making antique-style B-movies using super8 film equipment, a major accomplishment in the digital era. And of the several I have seen Brand Upon The Brain is certainly the most coherent and conceptually solid, though this could be a product of the beautiful live presentation.
A chamber ensemble of piano, strings and winds and 2 percussionists play a beautiful score by Jason Staczek and this ensemble is augmented by a live foley crew of 3 persons making all of the sound effects live. The film was full of little sonic nuances and shadings; every action was sonically performed in some way by the foleyists on every sort of noise device: wooden steps and doors, spring and wind devices, cheap toy megaphone. The detailing given to the sound was tremendous and all of the elements worked together. The piano playing was particularly intricate.
The film was composed in 12 parts, "A Remebrance In 12 Chapters", and was further divided by silent film style title cards. But the crowning touch to this evening's show was the presence of German film legend Udo Kier, a dashing man with a beautiful voice which added another layer of text as spoken narration. "The Past, the past...", Kier intoned dreamily as the hi-con black and white imagery flowed past. We saw a super8 transer to video projection of very high quality that night, but there is also a 35mm film print, probably transfered from that video copy, which i hope to get to see, with Isabella Rosellini as narrator. The film has toured to many festivals and had many guest narrators.
Brand Upon The Brain tells the story of a man returning to the lighthouse orphanage run by his crazed mother and the many deviant specifics of his childhood there. Strange love triangles and midnight trysts are complicated by Maddin's usual over-the-top circular story-telling style. It is simply marvelous to see super8 film being used to such great ends. The full throttle climax ending of the film was thrilling.
There was excellent publicity done for this weekend of screenings; it was evident by Sunday that buzz had spread about this event. The 600 seat theater was packed to the rafters and the room was excited. (I saw Tati's Playtime re-release in this theater on their giant 70mm screen.) I may have been a bit fatigued this Sunday night because I reacted a bit negatively to Maddin's hectic editing style. He constantly messes with the flow of the film, presenting a jumbled, chaotic nightmare which in some ways is saved by the beautiful live score. (I was reminded of Darren Ornofsky's "Requiem For A Dream" which I think descended into a editing bloodbath towards the end.) But I do look forward to seeing Branded Upon The Brain again and changing my first impression which was, after all, bombarded by the whole live sound cinema of this unforgettable event. The excitement and involvement of so many people in the performance of this film tells me I may have been seeing through tired eyes.
