The Guy Maddin Collection (1998)

Three phantasmagoric films on one DVD by the Canadian cult master! TWILIGHT OF THE ICE NYMPHS is the most elaborate and surreal fantasia from the master of all things libidinal. Starring Shelley Duvall, Frank Gorshin, and Alice Krige (STAR TREK's Borg Queen), this tale of lusty delirium and unrequited love is set in the mystical land of Mandragora, a supremely sensual dream world which pulses with ethereal, vibrating colors and bizarre flourishes of art direction. ARCHANGEL is set in the Northernmost tip of old Imperial Russia in the winter of 1919. The Great War has been over for three months, but no one has remembered to tell those who remain in the town of Archangel. A weird and wild melodrama of obsessive love with stunning black-and-white cinematography and memorably stylized set design. Commissioned for the 25th Anniversary of the Toronto International Film Festival, Maddin’s acclaimed, award-winning short THE HEART OF THE WORLD is a brilliant, breathless parody of silent Soviet propaganda films.

Two out of three ain't bad

This contains two great films by one of our most original filmmakers working today, Archangel and The Heart of the World (at only about five minutes in length, this film alone is worth the purchase price of the set, in my opinion). It also contains one of the worst films I've ever seen by any director. (So you get both ends of his creative spectrum!)

If you're a little more adventurous in your movie choices, this is something worth your while to pick up as you get a good introduction to a great filmmaker. September 18, 2008

A Great Collection!

No, I didn't care for "Twilight of the Ice Nymphs" the first time I saw it but I think I went in with certain dumb expectations like Mr. Maddin was not going to grow and experiment. A few viewings later and it's turned into a favorite. I appreciate the classic fairy-tale qualities, the cast is a hoot, and I love the dazzling over-saturated color--similar to what's used in a lot of modern TV commercials. It's really one of the most gorgeous-looking films I know of.

"Heart of the World" is a masterpiece and no one seems to dispute that. First time I managed to get a copy I watched it about twelve times in one evening. You'll never get the musical soundtrack out of your head. Go, Guy!

I had the pleasure of first seeing "Archangel" during its theatrical release. This is a film that's magical on the big screen. Standout moments (and there are many in this movie) like the bunnies in the battle trenches consistently reach the realm of the sublime. The scratchy, artificially aged soundtrack gives this film a hypnotic quality, perfect for such a dreamlike creation. Another wonderful Maddin product that gets better and better with time.

Just a thought: In a world where every creative decision seems to be made by lawyers, marketing drones, stockholders, Harvard MBAs, and a guy named Eisner, or, conversely, angry art-school types on illegal substances (and their fellow-travelers), Guy Maddin, along with the Brothers Quay, Pixar, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko) and a handful of others are the keepers of the flame right now. April 16, 2004

Noooooo!!!

"Archangel" is one of my favorite movies, but it's been changed for this collection. Two of the best scenes (rabbits in the trenches and attack of the huns) have been color-tinted. In other words, instead of Maddin's beautiful black and white, they are blue or red and white. It looks awful. New intertitle cards have also been added. Most of them try to make the story easier to follow, but too many of them try to be funny but fail. "Twilight" is Maddin's worst film, a failed experiment, but "Heart of the World" is one of his best. The commentaries are amusing, but you're not going to learn anything about the films from them. Maybe someday Criterion will release "Archangel" as it originally was. June 29, 2002

Skip the "Nymph's", See the "Angel"

This collection of a few of Madden's work is promising at first - you get not one, but two features ("Twilight of the Ice Nymphs" [1997], "Archangel" [1900]) and a short film ("The Heart of the World" [2000]). Regrettably, his premiere feature work "Twilight of the Ice Nymph's" isn't quite worth the top billing it receives on this collection. He's abandoned the faux-expressionism that made early movies a delight in favor of a bold, 1940's Hollywood Technicolor nightmare that makes for great visuals, but that's all the film can really sustain. Both convoluted and clumsy in terms of a plot and acting, this is not his strongest work to date and fans would be better with "Glimli Hospital" or "Careful". "Archangel", however, is more true to the original style and early cinema story-telling we've come to enjoy from him. Whether you had to sit through early Soviet or Weimar republic films in Film School or you just like the strange and unusual, Madden's true and original style never fails to disappoint! June 25, 2002

He's from my hometown. I may be biased...but I'm not.

Guy Maddin is a unique talent. For everyone out there who is SICK of the mainstream and yearning for something original, for someone who thinks David Lynch is pretty straightforward, for the die-hard fanatic of cinematic minutiae I can categorically endorse this DVD. I don't think even Criterion can lay claim to disc packed with this much stuff. And every second of it is amazing, from the features, their equally scintillating commentaries, to Guy Maddin's designs for "Twilight", to the ultimate six minutes in cinema-"The Heart of the World." April 14, 2002

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