Real to reel

Local observations from a movie, music buff

Worthy ‘Winnipeg’
The Music Box presents the funny and innovative “My Winnipeg,” Will Smith stars in the head-scratcher “Hancock”

By Dan Ochwat

One of the more refreshing films of late is Guy Maddin’s “My Winnipeg.” Billed by the filmmaker as a “docu-fantasia,” it blends personal childhood tales with wacky myths of Winnipeg lore (history, I believe, only he could conceive) — all in the swirl and swagger of the black-and-white surrealist and silent pictures.

It’s a dry, funny film — an immensely clever play on one man’s look back at his suffocating yet caring childhood (don’t we all feel that way?). See the genius on display at the Music Box Theatre on Southport.

Maddin, a writer/director known for the odd, narrates the spliced hodgepodge of footage that includes childhood movies to pictures of historic Winnipeg to reenactments with hired actors (B-movie specialist Ann Savage as his mother) to outlandish filmed sequences (sometimes animated) of Winnipeg tall tales too hard to believe but too damn charming to deny.

On first viewing, I let the movie’s madness quizzically unfold before me. On second viewing, I let the “dream train” ride. I doubted everything — laughed at it all. Should this be proven history, I’ll be damned. But a good part of me believes this is more a madman having his way with the Prelinger Archives.

Particularly enjoyable are the odd stories of Winnipeg, like the elm tree in the middle of a street that’s declared the world’s smallest park. There’s also the mayor’s scandalous man pageant and the old hockey players of Winnipeg past, still suiting up for a romp on the ice as the arena is being torn down.

These Winnipeg roots mix in with oddly humorous reenactments of pivotal moments in Maddin’s childhood. Most cherished is the night his sister returns home after hitting a deer with the car. Equally clever: A reenactment of his family watching “Ledge Man,” the only Winnipeg-produced TV show, starring his mother, that ran daily at noon and always ended with the hero on the ledge threatening suicide, only to crawl back inside to mother.

Maddin uses the reenactments to truly dissect his youth, showing his mother’s pull and power. While it’s all dryly funny, there is an emotional layer there. And most of all, it’s just so damn creative. It becomes pure joy to soak in Maddin’s Winnipeg. It freezes a grin on your face, as frozen as the perennial winters of Winnipeg — a snow fossil.

“My Winnipeg” begins with a vision of Maddin on a fever-dream train ride, sinking in his thoughts of what runs Winnipeg and what shackles its inhabitants — water and rails — forks, the lap. The dream eventually takes a much-needed turn toward what he calls, “a happy dream,” his childhood home. Maddin loves the house he grew up in; it also serves as a beauty parlor — helmets — and we see that while he wants to run from his history, he welcomes it, too. The film slows down about halfway, but then we get Maddin’s history of the Winnipeg Jets, his birth in the hockey stadium and his father’s influence.

I begin to wonder, though, if there’s more to “My Winnipeg” than comedy. Perhaps Maddin is taking a shot at modern documentaries — docudramas about the tragic, mysterious lives of regular folk on display in “51 Birch Street” or “Tarnation.” Both are brilliant films, but perhaps Maddin views them as indulgent. Or, maybe he views his own life as a joke compared to those documentaries, forcing him to dream up his own.

Because, in the end of this “docu-fantasia,” the truth shows: Maddin clings to peaceful memories — lying on couches. The film is an exaggerated dream that eventually floats to its center, which is — lying on couches, or home.

‘Hancock’
I’m not a fan of comic book movies, which is why Will Smith as a bitter, drunken superhero in the film “Hancock” is so appealing. Unfortunately, the flick is just strange: What begins as a vile, misunderstood superhero’s quest for redemption turns into a sci-fi romance that is immortally uninteresting.

Smith, Jason Bateman (as Hancock’s PR manager) and Charlize Theron (as Bateman’s character’s wife) actually act the hell out of this movie, bringing in some unexpected laughs and nearly fooling you into caring about it. It’s yeoman’s work. So the film has its moments. Too bad it’s directed by Peter Berg (“Friday Night Lights”), who heavy hands us with herky jerky camera movements during action sequences, awkward close-ups and, of course, too many filler L.A. skyline shots. He’s a boring director, and the movie is clunky.

“Hancock” does provide some worth through the subplot of a lonely superhero, but mainly it stinks of missed opportunities. His character is too ugly. Also, all of the action sequences feel as if Hancock has flown into one cliché of an action movie after another: the bank robbery, the prison yard, the foreign gangsters. Finally, the twist in the film is ridiculously obvious, and the final hospital sequence (with really, really awkward close-ups) couldn’t end fast enough. “Hancock” flew right over my head.

Concert Calendar
Plenty of good shoes to hit up at our area indoor arenas, thanks to the outdoor festivals Pitchfork Music Festival (see next page) and Lollapalooza, beginning 8/1. While in town, many bands hook up post- or pre-festival shows.

On 7/18, dubbed a Pitchfork after party, two excellent experimental noise bands Health and Mahjongg play the Hideout. Two more Pitchfork acts, and rowdy ones, King Khan & The Shrines and Jay Reatard visit the Bottom Lounge on 7/19. On the same night, a triple-threat lineup rattles Schubas with Atlanta’s High Places, Chicago’s Pit Er Pat and California’s Abe Vigoda. Japanese noise band Boris continues the string of loud acts coming to town, playing the Empty Bottle on 7/20.

On 7/25, a fun band Takka Takka heads to Schubas, but then it’s back to the noise with legendary ’90s local band Polvo along with local band Sybris at Subterranean on 7/25. On 7/27, Matmos will get heads nodding in the seats of the Lakeshore Theater with his electronic compositions.

And now come a string of dynamite freakin’ shows: The Black Lips visit the Empty Bottle on 8/1, the same night as Rogue Wave and Dr. Dog at Schubas and Mates of State and MGMT at the Double Door. On 8/2, Battles play the Double Door with Foals, the same night as Bloc Party and CSS at the House of Blues, Broken Social Scene and Yeasayer at Metro and Okkervil River and The Octopus Project at Schubas. Holy hell.

Keep sending me your music or anything else on your mind at danochwat@hotmail.com. I’ve also joined the MySpace army, so give The Real Chicago some love at http://www.myspace.com/danochwat

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