Wednesday, March 12, 2025

The Forbiden Room (2015)

 'The Forbiden Room' is a Guy Maddin film, so it's done in that oldie timey, 'Soviet montage' style that is his signature. This particular film employes a kind of Russian doll structure, where we see stories within stories, in essence a series of short films cut in pieces and presented in parts. This is really to the films benefit, it allows more diversity of visual and story text, and no one narrative goes on too long. The main stories concern a crew trapped in a downed submarine and lumberjacks out to save a beloved local damsel from a gang of wolves. But also, as summed up by Wikipedia: "Other sub-stories involve: a surgeon kidnapped by a team of "women skeletons" who work as insurance defrauders; a madman on a train under the charge of a womanizing psychiatrist; a mustache that seeks to comfort the widow of the man whose face it used to adorn; and a doctor cursed by a bust of Janus"  I really enjoyed this, it might also make good on boarding for those new to Maddin. ***

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