Guy Maddin makes films that are bursting with creativity, often driven by what seem like personal interests in projects like “Brand Upon the Brain!” and “My Winnipeg.” Roger himself wrote: “If you love movies with the depths of your imagination, you should experience Guy Maddin’s work.” So I went to see his latest film, “Rumours,” which is premiering at Cannes, with expectations created by his groundbreaking previous work.
There are glimpses of the visually inspired Maddin, which Roger suggested they “experience” rather than “watch,” but to me this one seems a bit minor in his filmography. It’s still undeniably smart, driven by a great cast who know what to do with this sharp satire of world politics, but it feels a bit like a joke, a film that’s content to play up the laughs rather than really bite its teeth into some of its complex themes. To be fair, you will laugh more than once – the film is consistently, intelligently entertaining, and that’s all it needs to be, even if I did wonder whether the younger Maddin might have found a way to imbue it with more passion and creative vigor.
Writer Evan Johnson shares co-director credit with Maddin and Galen Johnson on this essentially limited story of seven of the world’s most powerful leaders at the end of the world. The seven powerful characters at the G7 conference go to a gazebo in the woods to discuss a declaration about an undefined international crisis, only to find that the castle they thought they were staying in has been abandoned — and that’s just the beginning of the weirdness. There are ancient, zombie-like men who have risen from the earth and a giant brain in the woods that I still don’t quite understand. I don’t think I should. The part, more or less, boils down to throwing incompetent leaders into a real crisis and watching their character flaws and generally shallow way of dealing with the world explode.
Maddin’s cast is one of the best yet, led by Cate Blanchett as Hilda Orlmann, the Chancellor of Germany. The most charismatic of the bunch, after all, It’s Cate Blanchett—Hilda knows exactly how to smile in front of the press and takes on a leadership role when the night turns deadly. Curiously, the real leader turns out to be Canadian Prime Minister (Maddin, ever loyal to his homeland) Maxime Laplace, whose grim face is due to the fact that he faces a cancelable crisis at home that will probably force him to resign.
Roy Dupuis is incredibly handsome and intriguing and plays the part to perfection. Most of the G7 members manage to get laughs, from the Italian Antonio Lamorle (Rolando Ravello), who has a seemingly inexhaustible supply of cured meats in his jacket, to the ennui of the American president, played by one of the most British men alive in Charles Dance. Denis Menochet is perfectly French, while Nikki Amuka-Bird and Takehiro Hira find more dignified registers as the British and Japanese delegates respectively. Alicia Vikander appears in an extended cameo that I couldn’t explain or reveal if I wanted to.
In its examination of governmental incompetence against a backdrop of surreal impossibility, “Rumours” sometimes feels like a mix between Armando Iannucci and David Lynch. That hybrid alone can be entertaining enough for long stretches. That said, there are moments when it feels like Maddin and company are veering a bit away from a better version of this film, one that takes itself a bit more seriously and bites harder at the skin of people who are clearly not qualified to really lead.
Ultimately, Rumours is about how the powerful obsess over worthless nonsense while the world falls apart. They are more interested in their statements to the press than in real change. It’s something we can see in world politics every day, when thoughts and prayers take the place of action. Maddin and his collaborators have looked at this international dilemma and seen idiocies worthy of mockery – and they mock them well. A filmmaker Roger admired so much has put his imagination back on the big screen in what is sure to be one of the standout projects of his career (Cate can do that). I hope Rumours is successful enough to bring new fans to the work that made his brain explode and built his reputation. After all, Roger’s statement still holds true: few filmmakers love movies as much as Guy Maddin.
This review was presented at the Toronto International Film Festival. It premieres on October 11.He.