Review of Archangel (1990) by Todd J — 19 Nov 2008

His very early Maddin feature has a more direct silent approach than his later works, but it's still very innovative in what it does with the form. The story of a Czarist solider in the midst of the Bolshevik revolution, Maddin works with amnesiac characters to get at the outmodeled ways of the 19th century as the 20th century moved on.

Naturally, there are love triangles aplenty, but luckily, the individual characters are all quite well-defined and followed. Even the cowardly husband of one major character gets a huge moment in which his guts are literally splayed out by Bolsheviks for him to scoop back up to reassert his manhood.

Maddin's exquisite photography makes it all the better and brings to mind Communist war pics from Eisenstein to Kanal. **** out've *****.