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| DIRECTED BY |
| Guy Maddin
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| STARRING |
| Ross McMillan |
| R.H. Thomson |
| Pascale Bussi�res |
| Shelley Duvall |
| Alice Krige |
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Guy Maddin has a great sense of humor and it shines through here in this mythological allegory, full of symbolic representations. The whole film appears to be shot upon elaborately painted backdrops; Maddin brazenly defenestrates any concept of realism in order to provide a completely surreal mise en sc�ne. This does, of course, make for obviously artificial environments that could almost pass for stage settings, but Maddin nonetheless manages to impress us in other ways, particularly in the lighting department.
As expected, the performances are often less-than-authentic, particularly with Ross McMillan as the lovelorn adventurer, and I�ve never really been much of a Shelley Duvall fan. But when the dialogue is as overwrought as it is with a mythological story of this kind, it�s quite difficult to seem convincing anyway. Other performances, however, are notable � R.H. Thomson is impressively charismatic as the Machiavellian Dr. Solti, Frank Gorshin is perfect as the rambunctious farmer and both Alice Krige and Pascale Bussi�res are pleasurable to watch.
Those looking to make much sense of the actual story of �Twilight of the Ice Nymphs� will certainly have a difficult challenge ahead of them, as events occur in whimsical ways and much of what happens is incoherent. But Maddin seemed to be more concerned with dream imagery than with coherence and in that he succeeds. Scenes that stick out most prominently in my mind are � Zephyr�s recollection of the fate of her husband Matthew, where we are treated to an impressive sequence that begins in front of a mirror; the �rising water� bed sequence; and Matthew�s ostensibly failed attempt to summon the God of Pan.
If Maddin was striving to achieve some sort of major moral lesson here, then I missed it. So, personally, I hesitate to call it parable, but what I will call it is a very interesting visual experience that doesn�t quite articulate its overall point very well by the end.
