Guy Maddin: Waiting for Twilight

The filming of Twilight of the Ice Nymphs almost led to just that, the twilight of Maddin’s career, who makes no secret of the fact that it was a frustrating experience. Disagreements with producers, who even forced him to use a cast of famous names, who had nothing to do with the circle of performers he had worked with until then, and even filming in 35 millimetres, when he had always used 16 or Super 8, just added to the headaches that Maddin suffered. Noam Gonick’s documentary somehow manages to reflect all that discontent and captures the discomfort that leads us to hear Maddin utter the most dreaded words that could possibly come out of his mouth: “This is my last movie”, the director says to the camera, fed up of so many troubles and setbacks. Narrated by Tom Waits and midway between a ‘making of’ and a TV report, the documentary is a wonderful window on the Maddin universe, and his beginnings, passions, enthusiasms and desperations. –Festival Internacional de Cine de Autor de Barcelona