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Brand Upon the Brain!
Brand Upon the Brain! Image
Metascore
79 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 15 Critics What's this?

User Score
6.3 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 4 Ratings

Your Score
10 out of 10
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  • Summary: 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)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 15
  3. Negative: 0 out of 15
  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    88
    It's an astonishing film: weird, obsessed, drawing on subterranean impulses, hypnotic.
  2. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Phillips
    88
    The film is a singular achievement.
  3. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Aaron Hillis
    60
    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.

See all 15 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. jp992751
    5
    I am not really sure what to say about this. I guess I just am never going to understand Surrealism/Art- house/ Expressionism. Supposedly a autobiographical (yeah right because my dad had a ring that he stuck into children's necks to harvest their nectar so he could make my mom young again too) this story is extremely well shot and edited as a modern day silent flick. The visuals and camera work are disturbing yet at the same time pleasing to the eye. The shrieks of mother from the audiophone are downright scary and the visuals of here in the watchtower swiveling back and forth looking for the children is horror at it's best, yet again I just can't really enjoy these movies for anything other than technique. The story's don't appeal to me and really make little sense unless completely over scrutinized and over analyzed.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes

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