MY WINNIPEG (2007)

My Winnipeg is a real inspiration to me and I thought best to stay clear of it for a while so as to not be influenced too much but actually sat down and watched it again today for inspiration. It is a crazy free-wheeling and intriguing performative and poetic documentary of the filmmakers formative years growing up in Winnipeg. Re-enactments from actors and his eccentric mother of key life defining moments are recorded in his old family home set dressed to replicate it as it was freely crossing the boundaries of fiction and non-fiction. This is combined with archive footage, photos, a poetic narration from Maddin himself and dreamlike camera-work create a compelling and beguiling docu-fantasia or what Werner Hertzog terms “ecstatic truth”.

From further research in and around the film I found an interview with Madin speaking about the way some documentaries have evolved around the millenium stated “movies haven’t even really concerned themselves with the pains over what packaging the truth comes to them in. If a movie feels honest, ecstatically or literally, people can kind of feel it… The more manipulated things are, the less likely people are to be misled, to take everything said with a grain of salt, and to sort out dynamics of things that are true and untrue in their lives. I always liked that.”

There are lots of ideas that I can take from the film and avenues to pursue for the "Poetic Love" documentary idea I am working on. I love the idea of using re-enactments to create a docu-drama element to some scenes from my participants. The idea of stitching in archive footage to show topics being covered in the documentary is a good idea and through fair usage I may be able to use film clips to demonstrate these too. The poetical nature of the voice over also works really well and adds a romantic, nostalgic and ironic sensibility to the film that I may be able yo use my recorded sound to re-create. the idea of a very personal rememberances and subjectivity are also ideas I will look to put a spin on.