Excerpt from the University of Toronto: Winnipeg-born filmmaker Guy Maddin will be in residency at the Cinema Studies Institute, Innis College, at the University of Toronto January 12-15, 2010 to present a series of autobiographical lectures and narrated films in a rare, extended self-examination of his work to date. Maddin is known internationally as one of the most original voices in contemporary cinema, and his surreal, dream-like works are often cited for their striking visuals and novel sensibilities.
So, for the last couple of days, I’ve been looking into more surreal and “out there” films. I watched “Eyes Wide Shut” and “Blue Velvet”. I know they’re not completely bizarre, but I wanted to watch a few films in the same stylistic category of Guy Maddin before he showed up on campus for his lecture series. Unfortunately, my joke of an immune system let me catch food poisoning, and I could only attend one of the four nights. But I’m glad I got to go for that, at the least.
Guy Maddin is a charming, self-effacing technophobe. (This was his first time using PowerPoint.) He said he was nervous but, conveniently, was able to get rid of his jitters courtesy of “the Innis College boys room that was made famous by Craigslist”. Cue a hearty chuckle from the over-capacity crowd. In the first five minutes, we were hooked.
His first lecture, “May I Blow My Bugle Now?”, focused on the his approach to surrealism and melodrama. He showed clips from early twentieth-century films to present day YouTube-quality independent numbers. Most of the sequences featured some kind of removal on the part of the director: removal of dialogue in scenes, removal of characters altogether, removal of women in porn — even the removal of porn from porn. My favourite quote from the night was from the “porn” film. One of the women looked down at her skirt and took an egg out of her underwear. She said, deadpan and unsurprised, “I just laid an egg — how hot.” Then she licked the egg. Yeah. Classy.
I’m really disappointed about being sick again. Not only did I miss the rest of Guy Maddin’s lectures, I also missed Anthony Rapp’s book signing at the Eaton Centre this afternoon. Oh well. I will have to make up for it by laying around in my “Rent” sweater and playing video games all day. There’s always an upside to being flat-out sick.
Sasha James, otherwise known as The Final Girl Project, is a twenty-something Torontonian with an unhealthy amount of her week reserved for film and television. She also moonlights as The Doctor's companion on Saturdays. 
Review of My Winnipeg: It’s an art film but its pretty awesome. Some scenes really stay with you, as fact and fiction mix together like a bowl of melted ice cream. Must See! (Warning: Fair amount of nudity so don’t watch with the parents)
Sorry you couldn’t make it out for the other nights.
I really liked “like a bowl of melted ice cream”… I’m glad to have gone with ya, Sasha. He’s a very interesting filmmaker, I was so interested that I rented “Dracula: Pages From a Virgin’s Diary” and “The Saddest Music in the World” from the Media Commons! I have yet to watch them though.