teb@stat.Berkeley.EDU (Thomas E. Billings) (10/10/89)
TALES FROM THE GIMLI HOSPITAL
A film review by Thomas E. Billings
Copyright 1989 Thomas E. Billings
Synopsis:
Set in the distant past in Gimli, an imaginary Icelandic fishing village, this
is the story of "Einar the Lonely," a fisherman who gets sick in an epidemic
and must stay in a very strange hospital to recover. Very similar to
ERASERHEAD in style; destined to become a cult film.
Canada, black-and-white, 1988, 66 minutes.
Director/Writer: Guy Maddin
The story begins in modern Gimli. Two children visit their mother, who is
very sick, in the hospital. It turns out that the mother spends her time in
the hospital listening to strange electronic music. Since the mother is
indisposed, the nurse takes the children aside and tells them the story of
"Einar the Lonely," which we viewers see as a reenactment.
As the story of Einar begins, we see vignettes of life in Gimli, where
people wash their faces with straw, and squeeze oil from live fish, after which
the fish oil is used as hair cream. (As you can tell, Gimli is a very strange
place!) One day Einar gets sick; an epidemic is sweeping Gimli. He is then
admitted to the hospital. Continuing with the strangeness, we see the hospital
treatments for the epidemic: rubbing dead seagulls over the sores, and ritual
bloodlettings done with the point of a large sickle.
Einar slowly recovers, and tries to make friends with the voluptuous
nurses in the hospital. He makes friends with the man in the bed next to his,
and the very strange story of this man is told in flashbacks. As it turns out,
Einar has, through his gross perversion, committed a great wrong against this
man. This is revealed, and the story continues from there.
The style of this film is very similar to the cult film ERASERHEAD. It
was filmed in black and white (mostly black), and appears to have been done on
a very low budget. The photography ranges from soft focus scenes reminiscent
of the very best black-and-white films of the 1930s and 1940s, to blurry scenes
that look like somebody's home movie. Despite the low budget, the Director
succeeds in creating a whole new world (the hospital in Gimli), just as David
Lynch succeeded in doing in ERASERHEAD. The Director of this film, Guy Maddin,
shows considerable imagination here - though it is a very warped imagination.
There is plenty of humor in the film, and of course it is a very warped
kind of humor. Most of the humor is derived from the strange customs and the
way things are done in Gimli. This film is much funnier than ERASERHEAD (to be
fair, I should point out that ERASERHEAD is not a comedy), and is, in my
opinion, a better film.
There is one aspect of this film that deserves comment: it is an
independent production. Many imaginative and interesting films are made
independently. The problem is that they have a hard time getting screened.
You may have to search out independent films, as they get limited distribution
and marketing, but you may find the search to be worthwhile.
Overall, I would not recommend this film to a general audience, as it is
simply too weird. However, I strongly recommend it to anyone that liked
ERASERHEAD, for this film is the better of the two!
Distribution. Being screened at a limited number of theaters in the U.S.; in
the San Francisco area, it is shown weekly at one theater as a midnight film.
Reviewer: Thomas E. Billings, Department of Statistics
University of California, Berkeley
Reviewer contact: teb@stat.Berkeley.EDU