[KEYHOLE
is now available on home video.]
Review
by Bob Ignizio
Hey kids, do you have your secret Guy
Maddin decoder rings ready? I sure hope so, because otherwise you may
find yourself utterly baffled by KEYHOLE,
the latest film from the avant-garde Canadian filmmaker. On the
surface this is a gangster movie with a little ghost story flavor for
added zest. However, any notions that we're watching anything
resembling a conventional film are dashed early on when, after a
shootout with police, a group of gangsters separate themselves into
two groups: those who are alive and those who are dead. The “dead”
gangsters are then told to walk outside and report to the police, who
will make sure they get to the morgue okay.
The
plot, such as it is, concerns Ulysses (Jason Patric), head honcho of
the aforementioned gangsters, trying to make his way through the
various haunted corridors and locked doors of the house in order to
find his wife Hyacinth (Isabella Rossellini). There's a certain dream
logic to it all, but my limited knowledge of Freudian symbolism and
dream interpretation isn't enough to decipher the message completely. I think
it's about the main character's guilt for how he treated his family,
but I could be completely wrong. Regardless of what it all means, or
even if it means anything at all, KEYHOLE
is chock full of Maddin's typically stunning visuals. Sometimes,
that's enough. I'm just not entirely sure whether this is one of
those times or not. 2 1/2 out of 4 stars.
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