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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2008 7:15 pm 
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Brand Upon the Brain!

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In the weird and wonderful super-cinematic world of Canadian cult filmmaker Guy Maddin, personal memory collides with movie lore for a radical sensory overload. This eerie excursion into the Gothic recesses of Maddin’s mad, imaginary childhood is a silent, black-and-white comic science-fiction nightmare set in a lighthouse on grim Notch Island, where fictional protagonist Guy Maddin was raised by an ironfisted, puritanical mother. Originally mounted as a theatrical event (accompanied by live orchestra, foley artists, and assorted narrators), Brand upon the Brain! is an irreverent, delirious trip into the mind of one of current cinema’s true eccentrics.

Special Features

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer
• Optional narration tracks by Isabella Rossellini, Laurie Anderson, John Ashbery, Guy Maddin, Louis Negrin, Crispin Glover, and Eli Wallach
97 Percent True, a new documentary featuring interviews with the director and his collaborators
• Two new short films directed by Maddin exclusively for this release: It's My Mother’s Birthday Today and Footsteps
• Deleted scene
• Trailer
• PLUS: A new essay by film critic Dennis Lim

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Last edited by Jeff on Tue Jul 22, 2008 2:34 am, edited 3 times in total.

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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2008 8:09 pm 
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Nice to see they are including a selection of narrators - what was the full list of narrators during the theatrical run?


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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2008 8:12 pm 
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FANTASTIC news! I never would have dreamed we'd get more than Rossellini's narration (though I'm sure it's superb, anyway).


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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2008 8:21 pm 
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Here we go, I knew it was around here somewhere!

Quote:
A full list of screenings and live narrators lies ahead, and director Maddin himself will appear at the New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles events.

Narrators by city:

San Francisco screening (at Castro Theater):
05-07 Joan Chen (8 p.m.)

New York screenings (at Village East Cinemas):
05-09 Crispin Glover (7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.)
05-10 Anne Jackson (7 p.m.)
05-10 Eli Wallach (9:30 p.m.)
05-11 Joie Lee (7 p.m.)
05-11 Crispin Glover (9:30 p.m.)
05-12 Laurie Anderson (7 p.m.)
05-12 Lou Reed (9:30 p.m.)
05-13 Justin Bond (3 p.m.)
05-13 John Ashbery (7 p.m.)
05-13 Tunde Adebimpe (9:30 p.m.)
05-14 Edward Hibbert (7 p.m.)
05-14 Peter Scarlet (9:30 p.m.)
05-15 Isabella Rossellini (7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.)

Chicago screenings (at Music Box Theatre):
05-18 Crispin Glover (7:30 p.m.)
05-19 Crispin Glover (2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.)
05-20 Crispin Glover (2:30 p.m.)

Los Angeles screenings (at Egyptian Theatre):
06-08 TBA (7:30 p.m.)
06-09 TBA (7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.)
06-10 TBA (7:30 p.m.)

So Joan Chen, Anne Jackson, Joie Lee, Lou Reed, Justin Bond, Tunde Adebimpe, Edward Hibbert and Peter Scarlet are not included but Louis Negrin seems to have been added (though he might have been one of the LA narrators!).


Last edited by colinr0380 on Thu May 15, 2008 8:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2008 8:27 pm 
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I would have liked to have had Lou's narration, but so long as we have Laurie's...

And John Ashbery's! The best of all!


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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2008 8:32 pm 
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That's got to be a record number of audio tracks.

Louis Negrin narrated for the world premiere at TIFF06. For those that missed out on the live experience, here's one producer's account of said premiere. The foibles and delays added to the fun and novelty of the event (however, I missed half of my next show because of the late start... but no hard feelings.)

I like Maddin's shorts a lot better than his features but the quick editing and kinetic feel sustain this film better than most. Still seemed long but I was already pretty sleep deprived despite having seen this day two of the festival.


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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2008 8:42 pm 
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Doctor Sunshine wrote:
That's got to be a record number of audio tracks.

I was actually thinking about that, Rules of Attraction has it tied with six commentaries plus the regular Dolby track making 7.


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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2008 9:00 pm 

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LA narrators included:

Udo Kier
Barbara Steele
Mike Watt
Daniel Handler

I saw the Handler show.


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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2008 9:11 pm 
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when it showed in Portland, its narrator was Stephan Malkmus.


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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2008 9:16 pm 
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I think that was because the Portland city bylaws dictate that any public performance must in some way involve Malk


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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2008 10:06 pm 
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Wow, Crispin Glover! But I wish it included all of the readings, now that I know there are more...shouldn't they all be included? If this gets a Blu Ray release, would it be easy to fit all of them?


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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2008 10:10 pm 
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denti alligator wrote:
I would have liked to have had Lou's narration, but so long as we have Laurie's...

And John Ashbery's! The best of all!

There was a time when I would have liked to have anything by Lou in connection with anything...but he's become such an asshole in his old age that I pretty much avoid anything having to do with him....except for Laurie Anderson.


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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2008 10:28 pm 
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Weren't these live readings? Are these soundboard recordings or are these the people who were able to come into the studio to record their take?


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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2008 10:33 pm 
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Tribe wrote:
denti alligator wrote:
I would have liked to have had Lou's narration, but so long as we have Laurie's...

And John Ashbery's! The best of all!

There was a time when I would have liked to have anything by Lou in connection with anything...but he's become such an asshole in his old age that I pretty much avoid anything having to do with him....except for Laurie Anderson.

Wait, when was he not an asshole? Did I miss that?

I still buy every Lou album, even though out of something like 30 records only 5 of them are any good. But those are really, really good.


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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2008 10:40 pm 
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You'd have to get Lou into a studio to re-record his narration since reports indicate he fell asleep half way thorugh the performance.

Mind you with all the Castrati, music and effects going on at the same time I'd assume everyone's narration was re-recorded later.


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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2008 11:14 pm 
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denti alligator wrote:
Tribe wrote:
denti alligator wrote:
I would have liked to have had Lou's narration, but so long as we have Laurie's...

And John Ashbery's! The best of all!

There was a time when I would have liked to have anything by Lou in connection with anything...but he's become such an asshole in his old age that I pretty much avoid anything having to do with him....except for Laurie Anderson.

Wait, when was he not an asshole? Did I miss that?

I still buy every Lou album, even though out of something like 30 records only 5 of them are any good. But those are really, really good.

True, but way back he used to be a cool asshole. Now he's just annoying. Ditto on the records, Denti. I haven't liked anything of his since Magic and Loss...and even that was somewhat weak coming on the heels of New York.


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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2008 11:16 pm 
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domino harvey wrote:
Doctor Sunshine wrote:
That's got to be a record number of audio tracks.

I was actually thinking about that, Rules of Attraction has it tied with six commentaries plus the regular Dolby track making 7.

I was just going to mention that. I am still scratching my head about the 6 commentaries for that movie, including one by Carrot Top!? Wow.


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PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2008 1:29 am 
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Well, the ball's in your court, Criterion. A Carrot Top narration to take the record.


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PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2008 9:40 am 
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I was slightly alarmed by this announcement:

Quote:
Brand upon the Brain! is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Black bars at the top and bottom of the screen are normal for this format. This new high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit 4K from a 35 mm duplicate negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, and scratches were removed using the MTI Digital Restoration System. To maintain optimal image quality through the compression process, the picture on this dual-layer DVD-9 was encoded at the highest-possible bit rate for the quantity of material included.

Quite aside from the fact that the film is so recent that it shouldn't have picked up much in the way of dirt or debris, isn't it a key feature of Maddin's aesthetic that his films look as though they've been rotting on a shelf for five or six decades?

That said, I'm assuming this is just a careless cut-and-paste job - I can't believe Criterion would deliberately "correct" intentional damage!


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PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2008 10:22 am 
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MichaelB wrote:
Quite aside from the fact that the film is so recent that it shouldn't have picked up much in the way of dirt or debris, isn't it a key feature of Maddin's aesthetic that his films look as though they've been rotting on a shelf for five or six decades?

That said, I'm assuming this is just a careless cut-and-paste job - I can't believe Criterion would deliberately "correct" intentional damage!

I think it was a cut and paste mistake, because you're right, generally Maddin wants most of his films to look a bit like nitrate rot. On the other hand, when I saw this at the Detroit Institute of Art last year, I remember it having a "cleaner" look than most of his previous movies. Anyone else's recollection better than mine?


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PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2008 10:55 am 
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You're correct Tribe, there isn't nearly the same amount of 'decay and detritus' in Brand as there is in something like Archangel or Heart of the World. Maddin seems to have opted for emphasizing the grain and what he calls 'neurological editing' over artificial aging. I have a preview DVD (from a friend of a friend of Maddin) with the Rosselini v/o, but it is interlaced, so I'm looking forward to this, especially with the other audio tracks. I can imagine a very different viewing experience with each interlocutor, and I'm especially looking forward to the Ashbery and Anderson tracks. Anyone know what happened to the project that Maddin and Ashbery were reported to be collaborating on?


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PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2008 11:50 am 

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I can attest that Lou Reed fell asleep during the performance of Brand Upon the Brain!


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PostPosted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 1:18 am 
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The Crispin Glover narration track has been removed from the specs.


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PostPosted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 1:22 am 
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And Rules of Attraction retains its crown/the only reason anyone even remembers it exists.


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PostPosted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 2:38 am 

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domino harvey wrote:
And Rules of Attraction retains its crown/the only reason anyone even remembers it exists.

And a large part of that is due to Carrot Top's commentary... as if he were watching the film for the first time (wait... maybe he really was)... anyways, it's COMIC GOLD I TELL YOU!!!!


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