The 20th Century

This is one of the most strikingly original cinematic visions I have seen in quite some time. The movie is worth watching for the unique visual aesthetics and effects alone, but everything else about it surpassed my expectations and impressed me as well. With a title as broad as The Twentieth Century, this one felt like a real shot in the dark, but it paid off immensely. I mean, I had no idea it was going to be a dark surrealist comedy about Canada, for one...

The entire cast went above and beyond bringing their absurdist characters within this fantasy interpretation of Canada to life, all managing to be on the same wavelength, riding the line between comically animated and viscerally intense. On that note, the bizarre tone of the entire film was also one of it's strongest suits - the fact that it can balance satirical comedy, arthouse absurdism, and traditional storytelling so well is really something to wonder over. No matter what type of person you are, there's no way you could predict what you're going to see next while viewing this rollercoaster of imagery and idea.

This is a truly locked-in vision that is incredibly singular. I've never seen anything quite like it. It was written, shot, directed, and edited very succinctly. I can't recommend it to everyone, because, honestly it will be TOO original for the average viewer - they won't know what to take of it. They won't know how to feel. But, this is really a bit of a masterwork and deserves accolades. If you value originality, or the art and craft of filmmaking itself, do yourself a favor and check this out. Curious to see where this takes Matthew Rankin in the future.

An aesthetic of a certain English cinematography of the 60s and some references to filmmakers now considered classic, like Kubrick. The political content of the film is relatively interesting, including humor sometimes reminiscent of the group The Cynics, but the obsession with sexual jokes of dubious taste becomes boring due to its childishness. Not really bad, but not at all striking, despite a desire to establish itself as a singularity which, however, is in fact only a pastiche of what has already been done in a much better way. Let us note the fine work of the actors who knew how to avoid kitsch acting.

If you have to use Monty Python as a reference, then you have a limited film vocablulary.

My initial snapshot of referential inspiration here includes Expressionism/Max Beckmann/the Zeigfield Follies/Flash Gordon/Metropolis/Barry Lyndon/Touch of Evil/The Cabinet of Dr Caligari/Sam Raimi horror. I think it's Canadian national cultural asset - not wiping out the warmth of Terrence and Philip, but containing it's own sense of identity. Given some of the orthodoxic independent output of the other half if the cointinent, a refreshing change. The only reference to Python would be if Terry Gilliam was what the other reviewers might have meant, and what they were expecting to see. They are blinkered. You can curse me afterwards, but if I'm wrong, I'll have only wasted and an hour an a half of your time, and considering you've likely wasted a year not following all those failed good intentions of self improvement during the pandemic, you may not have much of an argument. Put it this way: if you're at all afraid to try new foods, you maybe should avoid this film, it's not for you. If you do like trying something that's not offering the received comforts of cinema, then go ahead. Not encouraged for non-adults, but that caution is out of politeness to social normalcy. Not that that there's anything wrong with that, is there? Is there?

It certainly leans on Monty Python vibes, but if you are looking for Monty Python you are going to be disappointed. It's a darker tale, and it uses a lot of Canadian type humor and feel. There are some decent Freudian ques and overall it does a good job of making you feel for and against various characters and their positions.

Some people don't understand that the cinematography of this movie is based on German Expressionism. Just for this, this movie is already worth a watch. You'll see triangular shapes standing for mountains, cubes for buildings, with neons lights and triangular shaped windows. A visual phantasmagoria.

The satire of Canadian politics depicts a much wider and darker world that is to come. Idealisms in the form of evolutionary humanism (Nazism) and egalitarian humanism (Communism), would rise to nearly to dominate the world and fall.

Characters might be extravagant, and at some points you might find them disgusting, but don't let that ruin the experience of a neon filled expressionist decorum à la Fritz Lang with some Monthy Pythonesque references and its eclectic soundtrack of a world that was about to experiment all of this. Can you imagine the excitement if you would have been living back then (1899) and the terror and disappointment of knowing what was to come?

An experiment in fusion of ideas with a quite unique outcome.