The previous posting is actually describing Maddin's Cowards Bend the Knee, which started as an installation piece before it was released as a film. Hands of Ida, on the other hand, is a half-hour TV drama which Maddin directed for hire and is probably the worst thing he ever made. In revenge for the rape and murder of a girl named Ida, a group of radical women go about surgically castrating randomly kidnapped men. A bickering pair of former lovers who work for a market research company conduct an implausible opinion survey to find out how people feel about what's going on. The script is ridiculous and the acting amateurish in what is, to date, Maddin's only attempt at a contemporary story set in the supposedly "real" world.
2 Reviews
"The Hands of Ida" Rocks My World (possible spoilers, but not really - everything moves so fast, nothing I say is more than basic set-up)
Retardo518 September 2004
Warning: Spoilers
It's about this hockey player (I've forgotten his name, I saw it ages ago) whose girlfriend is pregnant and wants an abortion. He takes her to a beauty-cum-abortion-clinic-cum-brothel (where the mirrors are one-way, and behind them is the operating table!) where he instantaneously falls in love with the Brothel owner's daughter (these aren't spoilers, this all happens in the first five minutes - *very* fairytale, dreamlike, fast and symbolic). She is possessed with a hunger to avenge her father . . . .
And wow! I loved it! I mean, yeah, obviously not everyone's cup of tea, it's very 'slow' and 'arty' (read: interesting), and at the same time doesn't take itself too seriously. I love the way the film develops the plot - it's very turn-in-on-itself turn-in-on-itself, having great fun playing with the central (darkly comic) idea, not unlike Being John Malkovich (in style not content). And some of the scenes . . . I've never seen anything like them. It's shot with very low quality cameras, and there's no speech, only plates (a la many Guy Maddin films). But there are a few moments, where he cuts out half the frames, and it looks more like a series of stilted impressionist paintings - utterly utterly beautiful. There's also a scene (yeah, no spoilers, so I can't go into detail, but it's great!) where he literally rewinds the frames, and then forwards, and rewinds, to music, and the effect (in context) . . . again, I'd never seen anything like it. Definitely worth the watch. The only problem is getting your hands (boom boom!) on it. I saw it in a Guy Maddin festival, sandwiched with two other short-ish films, and want to buy a copy . . . but can't. Certainly isn't sold in the U.K. Maybe U.S. or Canada?
Two thumbs up; a score of nine.
And wow! I loved it! I mean, yeah, obviously not everyone's cup of tea, it's very 'slow' and 'arty' (read: interesting), and at the same time doesn't take itself too seriously. I love the way the film develops the plot - it's very turn-in-on-itself turn-in-on-itself, having great fun playing with the central (darkly comic) idea, not unlike Being John Malkovich (in style not content). And some of the scenes . . . I've never seen anything like them. It's shot with very low quality cameras, and there's no speech, only plates (a la many Guy Maddin films). But there are a few moments, where he cuts out half the frames, and it looks more like a series of stilted impressionist paintings - utterly utterly beautiful. There's also a scene (yeah, no spoilers, so I can't go into detail, but it's great!) where he literally rewinds the frames, and then forwards, and rewinds, to music, and the effect (in context) . . . again, I'd never seen anything like it. Definitely worth the watch. The only problem is getting your hands (boom boom!) on it. I saw it in a Guy Maddin festival, sandwiched with two other short-ish films, and want to buy a copy . . . but can't. Certainly isn't sold in the U.K. Maybe U.S. or Canada?
Two thumbs up; a score of nine.
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