Tales from the Gimli Hospital Redux
Directed by Guy Maddin
1988Feature72 minCanada
During a smallpox epidemic in turn-of-the-century Manitoba, two hospital roommates confess their darkest secrets and become deadly rivals.
Synopsis
Set during a smallpox epidemic in the village of Gimli, Manitoba near the turn of the century, Tales from the Gimli Hospital is a dreamlike, elliptical film which explores the jealousy and madness instilled in two men who share a hospital room "in a Gimli we no longer know." The two men, Einar (Kyle McCulloch) and Gunnar (Michael Gottli) are friends at first, until they reveal their darkest secrets to each other. Tales of creeping pestilence, unconsummated passions, reckless envy and necrophilia are told, climaxing in a deadly battle between the two patients, now rivals. Does a better world await these two lost souls on Earth...or in Heaven?
The director
Guy Maddin is a Winnipeg filmmaker whose films, from Tales from the Gimli Hospital and Careful to The Saddest Music in the World and My Winnipeg, are instantly recognizable. They are known for their obsessive use of archaic film styles, melodramatic excess and personal mythology.
