DVD Review: Careful (A)

Careful (1992)
Directed by Guy Maddin
Starring Kyle McCulloch, Gosia Dobrowolska, Paul Cox and Sarah Neville
MPAA: UR
Grade: A

Review by Scott Standish

A film of striking originality, Careful is in my opinion, Guy Maddin's best. Mysterious, hilarious, psychotic and beautiful, describing a movie of this type to someone who has not seen it is almost impossible. And so it goes when trying to review a Guy Maddin film.

In Tolzbad, a tiny city nestled in the high mountain region, people talk in whispers, for fear of setting of avalanches. The elders of the town urge restraint for all things. Repressed and psychotic, the people of Tolzbad have some serious incest issues. Johann lusts after his mother as does his brother. Johann's fiancé Klara lusts after her father. Her father lusts after Klara's sister, making her jealous and all the more desperate for attention. Just for added strangeness, most of the men of the village go to a "butler school", where they learn how to be humble, quiet, dedicated servants. Sounds normal, right?

Similar to Arch Angel, Guy Maddin shoots Careful in his trademark silent film of the twenties style complete with added graininess and scratches. Weird music loops in the background and the audio tracks are often distorted. Black and white footage is often tinted one solid color, and the color photography has an ethereal glow radiating throughout. The effect is mesmerizing.

Winner of the Telluride lifetime achievement award (1995), Guy Maddin makes some of the most bizarre feature films out there. They are also some of the most entertaining and thought provoking. If you are a fan of Luis Bunuel (The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie) or David Lynch (Mulholland Drive), then you owe it to yourself to seek out Careful, a surrealist film shot in a silent film/German expressionist style.

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