Rumours

The directorial team of Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson, known for such hyperbolic screwball melodramas as THE FORBIDDEN ROOM, have returned to thrill and confound audiences in equal measure. At first glance, RUMOURS resembles a more traditional outing, in that it lacks the early-cinema pastiche or molten material effects of the group’s previous efforts. But the conventional veneer quickly falls away. Set at the G7 Summit, RUMOURS strands its seven (plus-one) major characters within an apocalypse these technocrats are ill-equipped to manage. As German chancellor Hilda Orlmann, Cate Blanchett exudes an uptight officiousness that hides a more rebellious streak. Making no effort to disguise his patrician British cadence, Charles Dance portrays the American president as a man ready for the world to end. But it’s Roy Dupuis as Canadian PM Maxime Laplace who (sort of) saves the day by embracing finality and leading his fellow world leaders into the fiery abyss. In depicting global destruction as a political photo-op, the antics contained within RUMOURS only need to be viewed at a slightly different angle for them to resemble social realism. (Michael Sicinski)

Guy Maddin: TALES FROM THE GIMLI HOSPITAL (1988), TWILIGHT OF THE ICE NYMPHS (1997), THE SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD (2003), BRAND UPON THE BRAIN! (2006), MY WINNIPEG (2007), KEYHOLE (2011)

Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson: THE FORBIDDEN ROOM (2015)

Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson: THE GREEN FOG (2017)