Gangsters and ghosts - and gangsters who are ghosts - stir it up in Guy Maddin's "Keyhole." They've gathered, in collusion and at cross-purposes, in a creepy old house that wouldn't be out of place in a David Lynch fantasia.
The Lynchian sensibility is underscored by the involvement of Isabella Rossellini as Hyacinth, who dreads the return of her long-absent husband, Ulysses (Jason Patric), an Odyssean hero as 1930s tough guy.
The atmospherics of unease are strong in the black-and-white "Keyhole," Maddin's first fully digital film. But unlike the Winnipeg auteur's previous melodramas about tortured souls (some of them, like "Brand Upon the Brain!" exuberantly silent), his latest is more trudge than epiphany.
When Udo Kier is the sanest person around, you know you're in strangeville. The German actor portrays a soothing doctor who pays a house call to the crowded abode. Its inhabitants, visitors and squatters include a drowned girl (Brooke Palsson), Ulysses' surviving son, his other son's killer and Hyacinth's naked father (Louis Negin), or his spirit, shackled and chained to her bed.
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Ulysses makes his way through clanging rooms that are characters in their own right, as are such pre-digital contraptions as a bicycle-powered electric chair.
Stepping away from his usual autobiographical turf, Maddin has fashioned a psychodrama as moodily weird as his earlier work but not as seductive or transporting. Amid the mythical allusions and the climate of decay, "Keyhole" overthinks its exploration of memory and forgiveness. Like Ulysses communicating with Hyacinth through keyholes, viewers might well find themselves on the outside looking in.
Review
Keyhole
* 1/2
• Rated: R for graphic nudity, sexuality, violent content and some language.
• Director: Guy Maddin
• Cast: Jason Patric, Isabella Rossellini, Udo Kier.
• Running time: 93 minutes.
Cinema Nocturna
"Keyhole" is the third in the Loft Cinema's newest series, "Cinema Nocturna: Late Night Excursions into the Outer Limits of Art Cinema."
The films open on a Sunday night and run through the following Thursday, with most starting at 9 p.m. or later.
Look for films that may be a little too weird or offbeat for prime time, said Jeff Yanc, the Loft's program director.
"They're all great films."
The late start time also helps the Loft, which is limited to two screens, show more films.
But don't expect a new film each week - Yanc said the series will run as the right opportunities come along.
The series launched with "Sound of Noise," which ran May 6-10 every night at 10.
"The Color Wheel" wraps up its week-long run at 10 tonight.
"Keyhole" starts Sunday and will screen at 10 p.m. every night through next Thursday.
Next up: "Last Days Here," which will run at 10 p.m. every night June 17 through June 21.
