The Hands of Ida (1995)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Guy Maddin

Writer:

Gerry Atwell (writer)

Genre:

Short

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

John Bekavac	...	Adam
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Paul Anthony	...	Jason
Jennifer Joseph	...	Witness
Joyce Krenz	...	Woman 1
Pamela Sinha

Runtime:

30 min

Country:

Canada

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Company:

Marble Island Pictures

"The Hands of Ida" Rocks My World (possible spoilers, but not really - everything moves so fast, nothing I say is more than basic set-up)

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

It's about this hockey player (I've forgotten his name, I saw it ages ago) whose girlfriend is pregnant and wants an abortion. He takes her to a beauty-cum-abortion-clinic-cum-brothel (where the mirrors are one-way, and behind them is the operating table!) where he instantaneously falls in love with the Brothel owner's daughter (these aren't spoilers, this all happens in the first five minutes - *very* fairytale, dreamlike, fast and symbolic). She is possessed with a hunger to avenge her father . . . .

And wow! I loved it! I mean, yeah, obviously not everyone's cup of tea, it's very 'slow' and 'arty' (read: interesting), and at the same time doesn't take itself too seriously. I love the way the film develops the plot - it's very turn-in-on-itself turn-in-on-itself, having great fun playing with the central (darkly comic) idea, not unlike Being John Malkovich (in style not content). And some of the scenes . . . I've never seen anything like them. It's shot with very low quality cameras, and there's no speech, only plates (a la many Guy Maddin films). But there are a few moments, where he cuts out half the frames, and it looks more like a series of stilted impressionist paintings - utterly utterly beautiful. There's also a scene (yeah, no spoilers, so I can't go into detail, but it's great!) where he literally rewinds the frames, and then forwards, and rewinds, to music, and the effect (in context) . . . again, I'd never seen anything like it. Definitely worth the watch. The only problem is getting your hands (boom boom!) on it. I saw it in a Guy Maddin festival, sandwiched with two other short-ish films, and want to buy a copy . . . but can't. Certainly isn't sold in the U.K. Maybe U.S. or Canada?

Two thumbs up; a score of nine.