I met up with Justin to check out some of Guy Maddin’s photography, as showcased at Heaven Gallery. Today’s showing was in conjunction with the Movieside Festival, and the films at the Music Box yesterday.
The image (above) is something I shot, prior to the actual display. They were playing some old black and white movie, and on seeing this… my thoughts turned to a poem by Billy Collins, entitled “The Death of the Hat.” Check out the poem (below), and the reason for my taking picture will make more sense.
When they finally showed Maddin’s photos, I was disappointed to see that almost all of them seemed to be stills from his movies. I was under the impression that they were actual photos taken by the director, and something separate from the images I had seen in his movies.
Justin liked the images a great deal. But to me, it felt like watching his movies, but in slow, slow motion. The films that I like by Maddin are effective primarily because of the speed of the images, in my opinion. Seeing one frame isolated didn’t do much for me; it just seemed like one blurry moment from a film, the context of which was purely defined by my having seen the film prior to tonight.
And though I hate to badmouth the music, it distracted more than it served. There were two musicians, a man on the cello and a woman on the harp, both of them accompanying the slideshow of still images. The harpist was fine, but the cellist seemed to wander excessively. I couldn’t tell if they were playing off of sheet music, or if they were just playing off the cuff and trying to wing it. The cellist was very good, as I heard a few sections where he was spot-on and flawless. But at several turns, he did this sliding, wavering thing and it was distracting to no end. It was like he was searching for a note (somewhere, between the half-steps), but never arrived at anything. Annoying as all hell.
On top of that, there was a side door open and you could hear the trains as they shot by every 10 minutes or so. And the wooden floor was incredibly squeaky, and made a constant noise as the crowd behind the seats was shuffling a lot.
Amidst all that noise, I thought briefly about Alicia, and how she likely would have been distracted to no end by all the ambient, competing sound in the room.
After the show, we happened to run into Tori and Julie, and chatted with the two of them out on the gallery rooftop. It was nice to collectively share our thoughts on Maddin, and kick around some ideas about his work.
Although I know Justin is a big fan of his, I don’t think that Guy Maddin is going to make my favorite director list. His work is interesting, but what I’ve determined over the past two days is that I don’t think he’s my cup of tea. Technically and stylistically interesting, but not someone I’m going to go out of my way to see.
