Hmmm. I realize with entries about Sylvia Plath and Robert Frost that film afficiandos, perhaps the main supporters of my blog (perhaps!), may be flocking elsewhere. Hence, I am devouting this entry to independent maverick filmmaker Guy Maddin whose films are even more 'interesting' (as in strange) than David Lynch. Actress Isabella Rossellini has acted with both auteurs though with her appearance on "30 Rock," the only network sitcom I watch, one does wonder if she is going mainstream...........naah!
At any rate, upon visiting my friend Bilge Ebiri's cinema blog ScreenGrab, I found out that Maddin, also a contributor to "Film Comment" magazine, has a new film which is being screened at the Cinema Village in New York (I should have booked a Greyhound) this weekend.
Maddin's latest film is entitled "Brand Upon the Brain!"
It is reportedly a silent film, and the screening in New York will feautre a live orchestra, live foley artists (wow!) and guest narrators, including Rossellini, Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson and Crispin Glover.
Phil Nugent, one of Bilge's fellow bloggers at the ScreenGrab, interviewed Maddin, who leave the confines of Winnipeg for New York for the screenings, earlier in the week.
A few years ago, my friend Jason Garnett, manager of the Grandin Theatre in Roanoke, Va., (my hometown), actually brought in another Maddin film "The Saddest Music in the World." It was perhaps the most stunning thing he had ever done at the Grandin up until he brought in "The Turkish Star Wars," starring Cuneyt Arkin (see earlier entry), for a midnight screening which I introduced. Jason also brought in a live orchestra this year for a screening of "Phantom of the Opera," but alas he has not been able to book Lou Reed who to my knowledge has never performed in southwest Virginia.
For those of you who either love Maddin's work or think you might, I also recommend my favorite comic strip "Zippy the Pinhead" by Bill Griffith, which is actually carried in "The Washington Post" and "The Baltimore Sun." Griffith's May 5 strip dealt with "A Brief History of the Washing Machine."
I may have to copy it and hand it to the Mexican guy who runs the landromat I infrequently visit in my new place of residence- Reidsville, NC. But, I think that might really confuse him.
Useful links:
ScreenGrab
http://www.nerve.com/nerveblog/screengrabblog.aspx?blogid=107
Maddin's new film
www.brandonthebrain.com
The Grandin Theatre
http://www.grandintheatre.org
Zippy the Pinhead
http://www.zippythepinhead.com
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