Keyhole
The Australian premiere of Maddin's sprawling gangster flick, which pays homage to Homer's Odyssey and bears the hallmarks of the director's surreal and irreverent style whilst presenting a deeper dream narrative to contemplate.
Described by Maddin as "the autobiography of a house", Keyhole opens with a group of mobsters holed up and surrounded by the cops. When their boss Ulysses (Jason Patric) returns, he is carrying a (mysteriously resurrected) drowned girl and a bound and gagged teen - who he doesn't recognise as his own son, Manners.
Ignoring his cohorts' demands for an explanation of their fate, Ulysses is driven by other forces to make a pilgrimage up to his marital bed. His odyssey is beset with figures (real and imagined) who lead him further into the labyrinthine house and the dark recesses of his psyche.
Maddin has assembled a fine cast including Isabella Rossellini, Udo Kier, Louis Negin and Jason Patric to lead the viewer through a fevered dreamscape that is at times humourous and opaque, but always enthralling.
Screens with
Send Me to the Lectric Chair Guy Maddin, 12 mins, Canada, 2008, Digital Betacam, Source/Courtesy: Winnipeg Film Group
Maddin regulars, Louis Negan and Isabella Rossellini, star in this 'electrifying' mother and son reunion.
