So I saw the film a couple days ago... twice in the span of a week and I'd have to say I liked the movie. I didn't love it, or hate it, just simply bottom line liked it... that being said I actually agree with everything pushnlacs posted.
I think the film is just meant to play with expressionism, as a poster said. The story, the acting, even some of the tech stuff(all of which I enjoyed btw) all come second to just getting out a silent movie and playing around with form. In that respect, I kinda agree that it looks like a film student project. In fact, when I saw the movie(my first Maddin film) I had an image of Maddin being a relatively young guy. I had no idea he'd been making movies since the 80s! Imagine my surprise when I saw the 97% True documentary and he's a middle-aged fella... in fact the doc has him talking about some of his influences like the Kucher brothers and Bunuel/Dali collabs. That says to me that this was just him playing with pre-existing material, messing around with it, and presenting us with Brand Upon the Brain!.
On that level I can't really hate on the film. I appreciate it, and I do find Brain! to be a fun movie in that regard(fun in the most broad sense).
As far as the editing, I think it's just Maddin's way of making the film "digestible" for modern audiences(yeah, irony right?). In the doc Maddin explains that most of the editing was done on accident. When he and his editor said to edit the film, Maddin would tell him to scroll through the desired scene, and the editor would scroll to fast and go past it, then Maddin would tell him to double back and it was in the scrolling backwards and forward that they achieved the whole "display intertitle for half a second, then display again for longer". I don't know if I buy all that, but like I said, I think Maddin just wanted to make it a little more accessible.
He also mentioned trying to get across a "feeling" on the screen, such as when young Guy is touching and feeling and reliving the island, I think Maddin failed here. Showing a character touch a wall, displaying an intertitle that says The Touch! and having the narrator scream The Touch! all at the same time doesn't work in conveying an emotion.
So, even though I agree with a lot of the criticism towards Brain! I appreciate what Maddin tried to do. Maybe down the line when I run into the movie again I'll feel differently about it, but for now I can see myself seeking out other Maddin titles.
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