Archangel (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Archangel | |
---|---|
VHS Cover |
|
Directed by | Guy Maddin |
Produced by | Andre Bennett Greg Klymkiw |
Written by | George Toles Guy Maddin |
Starring | Kyle McCulloch Kathy Marykuca Sarah Neville Michael Gottli |
Cinematography | Guy Maddin |
Editing by | Guy Maddin |
Running time | 90 min. |
Country | Canada |
Language | English |
All Movie Guide profile | |
IMDb profile |
Archangel is a 1990 film from Canadian director Guy Maddin.
The film is a surreal comedy-drama set just after the end of World War 1, in 1919. News of the war's end has not yet reached the remote Arctic Ocean port of Archangel in Russia, so they fight on. The Russian Civil War is also underway. The film's protagonist is Lt. John Boles, a soldier missing a leg and quite a few of his memories. He mourns his dead lover, Iris. Boles has a "billet" in the home of Veronkha and her soldier husband Philbin, who forgets he is married to Veronkha, while Boles obsessively believes that Veronkha is Iris. Fat crybaby Jannings proves he isn't such a coward after all, young Geza's admiration for Boles seems a bit extreme, and Danchak imparts her beliefs about darkness. Meanwhile, the wars rage on in the Arctic night, and everyone performs heroically, albeit in a sort of amnesia.
The film is shown in grainy black & white. It satirizes the grotesque propaganda common in older wartime film and literature. The Bolsheviks and Germans (described as "Huns") are shown as subhuman and ape-like, who among other atrocities engage in cannibalism.
[edit] External links
- Archangel at the Internet Movie Database
- Canadian Film Encyclopedia [A publication of The Film Reference Library/a division of the Toronto International Film Festival Group]
Guy Maddin | |
---|---|
1980s |
|
1990s |
|
2000s |
|
Shorts |
|