Customer Reviews

From the Atelier Tovar: Selected Writings of Guy Maddin

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This little book is great--a feast of short pieces from the pen of Canadian surrealist Guy Maddin. We have here film and DVD reviews, articles, screenplays for produced and unproduced short films, journal excerpts and miscellaneous bits, all as funny and eccentric as one would expect from the director of "Tales from the Gimli Hospital." (None of this duplicates the material in his "Cowards Bend the Knee" book, although there is some illuminating insight into the genesis of that project.) All of these pieces are fun in different ways (although some parts of the journal comically disheartening--even a famous director can't always get financing or, for that matter, get laid). Lots of pictures in this book, including film stills, production shots and storyboards, and nice design--"Anna" from "Heart of the World" peeking through a die-cut hole in the cover.

This book may be educational for the uninitiated (especially the reviews), but probably not the best introduction to Maddin's work (for which see "Kino Delirium"). But, for those who enjoy Maddin's films, this book is great fun all around.

I'm still reading this book, having finished the journals section, and Guy is so fascinating...Remember Kerouac's Big Sur, and all the misery and dislocation he had during that time, which is a nice way to say he was having delirium tremens, which is a nice way to say he was losing his mind due to alcoholism, but somehow at the same time he was writing all this down into a great book. Well, here with Guy's book of journals, journalism, personal photos and magazine writing, etc. Guy presents himself as one of us...either broke, lonely, heart on his sleeve, snooty, unctuous, loving, meticulous, sure of himself, lazy, more broke, insightful, horny, hetero with a fey side of bacon, and wonderfully revealing. You'll never get a presidential bio on this level. Don't miss the part about him and his female friend being kidnapped and hustled...and surviving by plying their captives with booze...
I keep wondering why Guy doesn't do a film of J.K. Huysmans' A Rebours.

Maddin starts his autobiographical tour with a movie 'dream list' that announces his taste is far from the contemporary mainstream. Journal entries provide a multifaceted portrait of the filmmaker via indelible childhood memories, plentiful enthusiasms, and unstinting self-evaluation. His journalism and film treatments expand the picture. I keep picking up this collection for pleasurable re-reading, and jotting down movie and book titles he mentions. If you're weary from too many books by Hollywood insiders, this is the perfect anodyne.