My Winnipeg

Anchored throughout his life to the snowbound, sleepy Canadian city of Winnipeg, Maddin (THE SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD) travels headlong into his past to forge a new path to freedom. Drawn by the bittersweet pull of family, he returns to his unconventional childhood home - a split-level apartment cum beauty parlor - and moves right back in. Recruiting actors to spar with his "real" mother (played by '40s noir legend Ann Savage) atop the actual floorboards of his memory, he re-creates hilariously awkward moments from his adolescence. Spiraling out to the surrounding city and its peculiar locations and history, he re-imagines a notorious semi-nude civic pride event, a jazz-age séance ballet, a macabre frozen horse photo op, and "If Day," when the whole town pretends that the Nazis have invaded. All the while Maddin travels deep into his own nostalgia, searching for an elusive way out of Winnipeg. |||| Visionary Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin pays tribute to his beloved hometown with this goodbye letter and self-described "docu-fantasia" that is equal parts transcendental rumination, historical chronicle, and personal portrait. In the first segment, Maddin's camera drifts dreamlike through crowded trains as a floating kielbasa hangs from the ceiling and the director/narrator ponders just why the city boasts the most sleepwalkers per capita of any major international city. Later, the viewer is treated to images of numerous historical monuments in the city as they learn about such key historical events as the Winnipeg General Strike, the defeat of the Winnipeg Jets, and even the Golden Boy pageant scandal and a racetrack tragedy that found numerous horses sent to an icy death. As the third and final segment gets underway, the director draws inspiration from filmmaker William Castle to present pivotal -- and often traumatic -- events from his childhood that left an indelible mark while simultaneously serving to mold his unique vision of his beloved Winnipeg.

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