Advanced Search Beta »
Basic Search Fields
My Winnipeg
User Score
6.6 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 16 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 16
  3. Negative: 4 out of 16

Review this movie

  1. Your Score
    10 out of 10
    Rate this:
    out of 10
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling

  3. Characters remaining: 5000 out of 5000

view
per page
  1. BobW
    Jun 11, 2008
    3
    There is artistry in the editing but the cumulative effect is really annoying. I should have joined the many who walked out of the film fest venue I attended.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  2. MarkS.
    Jun 17, 2008
    10
    Most of the movie was a solid 8, but the correct labeling of the demise of the Arena pushed it over the top.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. JbE.
    Jun 19, 2008
    10
    Absolutely hilarious, though certainly not for everyone. i recommend it to anyone with a sense of the surreal and a sense of humor, or anyone remotely connected with central Canada.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  4. LawrenceT.
    Jun 22, 2008
    9
    Very ingenious and creative without being pretentious ... I love this director and am glad that I newly discovered him ... I look for more from him to be just as intriguing .... I highly recommend this film.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  5. MichaelS.
    Jun 23, 2008
    10
    Guy Maddin's movies make me feel alive. I feel surges of happiness and melancholy like I'm on a great new prescription. What a ride Guy, thanks for the Art baby.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  6. MissyH.
    Jun 26, 2008
    4
    I felt as if I too were sleepwalking, a theme in this over long film. A 20 minute documentary on the very interesting though questionable subject would have been enough. A feature...not!
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  7. sallyw.
    Jul 7, 2008
    7
    The sleepwalking theme was very strong and both myself and my boyfriend fell asleep half way through. I give it 7 for the part I did see. I liked the soap 'on the ledge', must catchu up with it sometime. Is Guy Maddin a hypnotist?
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  8. BryanR.
    Aug 1, 2008
    10
    WOW! Guy Maddin is filmmaker who hasn't has his vision stomped by TV or Hollywood -- like the last living real movie director cringing in an ice cave in Canada of all places!
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  9. ChrisP.
    Aug 2, 2008
    7
    It's watchable and amusing, but incomplete as a work of art. Maddin's voice-over narrative has some witty quips but deflates rather than fueling the romantic/mythic/dreamlike emotional energy he's trying for. The best sequence in the film is a silent recreation of a seance in the Legislature; only for these few minutes is the film allowed to speak for itself and achieve some real emotional impact. For such a visual director, he repeatedly violates the "show me, don't tell me" rule, so that the visuals and narrative don't add to each other but just run side by side, and that loosely. Also surprisingly, there are too few visual ideas in the film; Maddin keeps showing us the same image over and over long after the point has been made. There's some brilliant editing, but the style of the film is monotonous; intensity comes in random fits and starts, but never achieves any momentum or arc. Narratively, there's no insight what makes Winnipeg tick or why its city council makes the famously bad decisions it does, nor why Winnipegers allow those decisions to happen and nurse the feelings of betrayal that they do. Maddin's ironic detachment functions more as a self-protective mask than as an opportunity for critical reappraisal of the sentiments he's expressions. Overall, the whole thing comes across as fairly masturbatory (metaphorically speaking, although there is some fairly cliched stuff about sexual repression in here); one is tempted to think the director isn't interested in anyone's emotions but his own, and is not much in touch with those. There is a lot of potential in this film (it might have worked brilliantly as an all-silent film) but it's an unfinished and art-schoolish, not the work of a mature artist.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  10. ryancarroll88
    Aug 26, 2010
    10
    What is "My Winnipeg"? Sure, it's easy to dismiss it as an experimental film, but that's like blacklisting it to a future in some storage bin in a modern art museum, which would be a shame. The film claims to be a documentary about Guy Maddin's hometown, Winnipeg, MB. The footage shows what appears to be reenactments of Maddin's childhood, scenes from his family and a speckled history of the town. From the beginning it's obvious that this 'reality' is pure imagination, a fantasy concocted by Maddin, but for what purpose? Why is he trying to escape reality and his hometown that he loves so dearly? The best way to understand is to watch it, accept it as truth like Maddin has, and experience the world as it becomes a much more magical place.… Expand
prev next
Page:
  • 1

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
84 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 24 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 24 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 24
  3. Negative: 0 out of 24
  1. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    80
    My Winnipeg is overloaded and digressive--it comes with the territory--but it's also grounded in a place, Maddin's Manitoban hometown, and it's painfully engrossing.
    Read full review
  2. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: John DeFore
    90
    Hilarious for those on Maddin's mad wavelength and more varied than his strictly fictional features.
    Read full review
  3. Variety
    Reviewed by: Eddie Cockrell
    70
    Though it may feel undernourished to the faithful, Winnipeg is an easily digestible meal, for the uninitiated and fans alike.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »