3 Mulligans

The opening shots of Brand Upon the Brain! made me think that I was in for another surreal, B/W collage of images that would likely prove to be dull — probably the kind of movie that years ago I would have liked only as a diversion and not on its own merits. However, just a few minutes into the movie — right when Isabella Rossellini starts her narration — I was hooked. The movie is goofy, funny, sad, and scary and even made me a little jealous of the director’s creative vision and how he evokes childhood memories. I don’t want to say too much about all the elements of the plot and the odd environment of the film, but it immediately brought to mind two artists I love: Timothy Winkler, who does gorgeous retro-futuristic drawings, and Glen Baxter, who draws very odd and funny — and often homoerotic — versions of familiar genres. There were so many other things this movie referenced, either directly or indirectly. Most obvious was the silent movie genre. But it also incorporated child detectives à la Nancy Drew, a great scene that reminded me of Lord of the Flies and a vampiric mother that seemed taken right out of the legend of Countess Bathory. All this while the director claims that 97% of the story was taken from his own childhood. I’m sure it was, emotionally, even if not absolutely factually.