NYFF 53 REVIEW: THE FORBIDDEN ROOM
Growing up, I watched a lot of old movies. Everything from black and white Bogart films to technicolor Gilligan’s Island episodes. To this day, I still find a crackly old film to be extremely nostalgic and impressive. Which is maybe why Guy Maddin’s newest film truly struck me. A kind of mash-up between a sci-fi film of the 1940’s and a psychedelic Warhol-like dream sequence all set to the score of a silent film from the 1920’s, THE FORBIDDEN ROOM is the perfect balance of all things cinematic.
The first 20 minutes or so is a bit disorienting. The moment a story is established, a new story embedded in the current story is revealed. The pace is a bit dizzying. That paired with the squirming and squelching of some of the “still” shots, and the same 24 bars of music, intentionally yet poorly looped over written text, made me feel a bit nauseated. And then all of a sudden it clicks, and following the leapfrog movement from one piece of narrative to the next becomes easy. Occasionally, the audience is rewarded with a sort of backwards movement through each layer of plot which acts as a sort of breath before diving even further in to a world of controlled chaos. It’s as if the director zooms in deeper and deeper and then quickly zooms back out all the way only to zoom back in even further.
As weird as the experience is, the stories are compelling and ring true with the human condition. After acclimating to the movement and visual effects, I found myself completely hooked. I loved that each story is embedded into the next in a stream of consciousness. I love that there is an entire plotline from the viewpoint of a mustache attached to an unhappy man. I love this film. After the two hour film concluded, I was treated to a special Q&A section in which Maddin delved a little deeper into the meaning of his work. I wish I knew ANY of the information he divulged before the screening. Hearing Guy talk about the similarities between a séance with the paranormal and a séance with lost films literally gave me goosebumps. His intent with this work was to bring to life lost films. His plan was to create a resurrected film database. That is exactly what this creepy, playful and chaotic film is.
Guy stresses that he is no scholar, which may be true, but he is one heck of a storyteller, and maybe even a bit of a séance artist or hypnotist.
VERDICT: MUST SEE
WRITTEN BY Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, Robert Kotyk, and additional material by John Ashbery DIRECTED BY Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson STARRING Roy Dupuis, Clara Furey, Louis NEgin, Udo Kier, Gregory Hlady, Mathieu Amalric, Noel Burton, Geraldine Chaplin, Paul Ahmarani, Caroline Dhavenas, Charlotte Rampling, Maria de Medeiros
Playing as part of the 2015 53rd Annual New York Film Festival. For tickets and information: http://www.filmlinc.org/nyff2015/
CHRISENA RICCI once went to a costume party dressed in an all black dress and black wig. No one there could guess who she was. So she shouted out, "I'm Christina Ricci, without the T or I and add an E!" Everyone stood there confused, she was annoyed, so she stormed off. She never returned to that apartment ever again. Which is fine, because she later realized she was at the wrong party. She now lives in New York City.