Hodgepodge of genre iconography and themes of family trauma strained through Maddin's typically rigorous aesthetic sifter. To what end? I have no clue.

"Never trust your eyes" our hero is told - and Maddin's delirious trompe-l'oeil style is uniquely suited to a world (as in My Winnipeg) where fantasy is indistinguishable from reality, ghosts from the living, and a tragic twist from a bad memory. He cuts almost as often as Michael Bay, and this isn't one of his funnier films (despite "milk-drinking Ned" and yahtzee-playing Brucie), but it's a triumphant meld of genres, mostly film noir and hothouse family drama, and the melancholy ambience - "sorrow lingers"; nothing can be fixed; you can put furniture back the way it was, but you can't replace a life - keeps the dazzling style grounded. Maddin may seem a little samey now, and not always deep or substantial (though students of pernicious patriarchy - a disembodied penis! - may beg to differ), but posterity will cherish his single-mindedness as it does Cocteau's and Von Sternberg's.

Intoxicating! Maddin's films always feel like a hallucinatory drug to me. A trip into altered states of mind. I thought Keyhole was brilliant and still very true to Maddin's unique style of film making. But what is ironic here in Keyhole is it is not Maddin's trademark superimposing lightning speed editing and psychotic visuals that overpowers the film, it is actually an acting performance. One done by Jason Patric who seizes his role with an almighty forcefulness. Maddin continues to do what he does best, twist the medium into something strange, demented and above all original. Keep doing what you are doing Guy. 8/10

I was pretty tired when I saw this at TIFF 11, so I thought I'd give it another shot, but my opinion - I found the narrative frustratingly opaque, many of the performances stilted, the humour flat, the editing seemingly random, rhythm and lyricism largely absent - is largely unchanged. Only at the very end does it seem to be coming together, but even then I'm not sure exactly what it is trying to say - maybe something about recreating the past to dispel the ghosts of unhappy times that followed? Colour me confounded.

NO.

This is a very surreal introspective/existential mystery by Guy Maddin. I enjoyed it in fits and starts as it's quite heavy in its outre and avant-garde mechanics. It definitely lost me in the middle, however, hanging on is well worth the wait, because this seemingly abstract series of events and imagery piece together and make sense in some strange way by the end.

NO.

The keyhole

It was a imteresting film but I think that they used the imagery / dreamlike sequences / flashback weirdness etc a bit to much that it just become a bit of a muddled mess that got to point that that was all he was interested in and lost his direction of path on a actual storyline and got a little to overbearing.

mmmm...... I may or may not add more later.

I like Guy Maddin, but I did not like Keyhole. The biggest problem with the film is its cast. Maddin grouped accomplished actors like Isabella Rossellini, Udo Kier, and Jason Patric with an ensemble of horrible amateur actors. Their performances are truly atrocious—particularly, that by the actor who portrays Big Ed. I must admit that I was surprised by Jason Patric's performance. I expected him not to be good, but he's actually impressive.

Although creative and original, the story is a mess that is difficult to follow and did not maintain my interest. There are a few scenes of brilliance—most all of them involving Rossellini—but, as a whole, Keyhole was a fail for me.

If you can't get into brazenly arty surrealism I can not imagine you would like this. I found the web of associations spread throughout this movie to be intriguing.

49? Never reviewed for some reason, probably without internet and I'd forgotten. Huh. I recall this befalling the fate many people say of the worst Maddin Films, if I were to show you clips, it would seem like some insane work of genius, but as a whole it doesn't amount to much for me.