Directed by: Guy Maddin.
Written by: Guy Maddin.
Starring: Leslie Bais (Anna), Caelum Vatnsdal (Osip), Shaun Balbar (Nikolai), Greg Klymkiw (Akmatov).
If
you are one of those poor, unfortunate souls who has not yet discovered the
films of mad, Canadian genius Guy Maddin, than his 2000 short The Heart of the
World may just be the place to start. It’s one of his best films to be sure –
and typical of its work, it takes its inspiration from silent films (this one
from Soviet films in particular), but does so in a way that wholly unique,
wholly Guy Maddin. If you hate the film – and some will – its only 6 minutes
long, so you won’t suffer for long. If you love it – and many will – you may
have just discovered one of your new favorite filmmakers.
The
film was commissioned by TIFF for the festival in 2000. Maddin, along with
other Canadian filmmakers like David Cronenberg, Atom Egoyan, Patricia Rozema
and Michael Snow (among others) were approached to make a 4 minute film to play
in front of certain features. Apparently when Maddin heard that many filmmakers
were planning on doing shorts with relatively few shots and simple stories,
Maddin decided, of course, to do just the opposite. He expanded the film to 6
minutes after TIFF, and the film averages 2 shots per second for the entire
runtime, and packs in a features worth of story into its runtime. In many ways,
it plays like a silent film on fast forward.
The
film is about two brothers who are both in love with the same woman, Anna
(Leslie Bais), a State Scientist. Osip (Caelum Vatnsdal) is a mortician, who
works with speed on an assembly line of corpses coming to him. Nikolai (Shaun
Balbar) is an actor, who latest role is as Christ in a Passion Play, and he
tries to impress Anna with his suffering. But Anna instead falls in love with
Akmatov (Greg Klymkiw), an evil, fat, wealthy industrialist. But Anna discovers
that the world itself is in danger of a heart attack – which would kill it – so
she slides into the center of the earth to become its new heart – cinema.
The
Heart of the World is a treasure trove for silent films fans. Yes, the movie
references Soviet films more than anything else – the wealthy industrialist
looks a lot like some of Eisenstein (in, say Strike), but there’s a lot of
references here. Because the shots fly by so quickly, watching the first – or
even second or third time through – isn’t enough to capture everything. It’s a
short that not only rewards, but demands repeat viewings. I wasn’t at TIFF in
2000 – but I’ve been there many years, and I can tell you, the shorts and ads
that play before the movie – even the best of them – get old, fast. I cannot
imagine not perking up though had this played at the front of each movie one
year I was there.
The Heart of the World is brilliantly constructed, witty, funny, moving and out and out fun. It is Guy Maddin at the height of his powers – which is why what could have been a throwaway film for many directors, ended up being one of the most acclaimed in Maddin’s career (he won quite a few awards for it). It is a short masterpiece – and the perfect place to start if you don’t already know Maddin.
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