Beautiful, interesting, incredible cinema.

See what’s playing
Stump the Guesser
Stump the Guesser
7.4
/10
2,254 Ratings

STUMP THE GUESSER

Directed by Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson
Canada, 2020
Short, Comedy, Fantasy

Synopsis

He works at the fairground as “Stump the Guesser”, who can guess anything for a fee. But suddenly his tricks stop working. Then, he falls in love with his sister whom he believed to be lost. He sets out to scientifically disprove the theory of heredity and marry his beloved as soon as possible.

Synopsis

He works at the fairground as “Stump the Guesser”, who can guess anything for a fee. But suddenly his tricks stop working. Then, he falls in love with his sister whom he believed to be lost. He sets out to scientifically disprove the theory of heredity and marry his beloved as soon as possible.

Our take

Canadian auteur Guy Maddin and the Johnson brothers set off a slew of surrealist fireworks in this joyfully carnivalesque short. A dream-like ode to Soviet cinema, taking in crabs, fairgrounds, genetics, and incest—all visualized in hallucinatory montage and pops of neon color amid the monochrome.