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Brand Upon the Brain!
EMAILPRINTThe Film Company / Vitagraph Pictures

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 15 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 3 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by:
Guy Maddin
George Toles
Directed by: Guy Maddin
Release Date:
Theatrical: May 9, 2007
Running Time: 95 minutes, Color
Origin: USA / Canada
Summary
RATING: Not Rated
Starring Erik Steffen Maahs, Gretchen Krich, Sullivan Brown, Andrew Loviska, Kellan Larson, Maya Lawson, and Todd Jefferson Moore
Brand Upon the Brain! In which the shocking truth is finally revealed about young Guy Maddin and his hellish childhood on a remote island, under the hyper-watchful eye of a crazed mother hellbent on restoring her youth and a diabolically distant scientist-father, proprietors of a mom-and-pop orphanage they surreptitiously operate within the dank confines of the family lighthouse. Watch! as the sex instinct grabs hold of young Maddin and his sister! Thrill! as the Mysteries of the Light House are divined by teen detectives! Reel! at the headstrong invention and heart-stopping rhythms of the elder Maddin's heroic silent moviemaking!! (The Film Company)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Cowards Bend the Knee Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary The Saddest Music in the World
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
New York Post Lou Lumenick
Not many people are making silent horror serials these days, but Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin pushes his love of lurid melodrama to the limit in his latest demented treat, Brand Upon the Brain!
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
It's an astonishing film: weird, obsessed, drawing on subterranean impulses, hypnotic.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
A feverishly imaginative Freudian vampire film from Guy Maddin, is like a silent-movie serial by Louis Feuillade or an improbable collaboration between writer Oscar Wilde and photographer Man Ray.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
This much is guaranteed: You won't leave thinking you've seen the like before.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
Enhanced by Jason Staczek's superb score, this is characteristically intense and, unlike most of Maddin's silent-movie models, frenetically edited.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
The result is giddy, exciting and hilarious, not quite like any artistic experience you've ever had.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Manohla Dargis
Delirious, ingenious, often very funny and strangely touching film.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
Coming after the inspired trifecta of "Dracula: Pages From A Virgin's Diary," "Cowards Bend The Knee," and "The Saddest Music In The World," Brand feels a little like boilerplate Maddin rather than a fresh burst of inspiration.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
How often are psychosexual lunacy and classic cinema combined so fiendishly well?
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter John DeFore
Winnepeg filmmaker Guy Maddin isn't known for run-of-the-mill movies, but the feature he debuted at the Toronto Fest was outrageous even for him. A silent film taking the form of a twelve-chapter Feuillade-flavored serial and designed to have live accompaniment, the movie itself is a match for any of his features to date, and could outstrip earlier efforts in the arthouse arena.
Read Full Review >Variety Scott Foundas
Billed as a silent film, Guy Maddin's Brand Upon the Brain! is actually closer to a live theatrical event -- a feature-length motion picture screened with the accompaniment of a live orchestra, plus Foley artists, sound effects technicians and assorted vocalists, too. Together, they provide the elaborate soundscape for a typically frenetic, Maddin-esque amalgam of the autobiographical, Freudian and willfully absurd.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Aaron Hillis
Not to discredit its wild artistry by saying the gimmick's the prize, but . . . the gimmick's the prize. Without all the hoopla, there simply isn't enough variation to this stylized fever-dream to justify its fatiguing running time, nor to call it anything less than predictably Maddin–esque.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.6 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
