From The Hollywood Reporter · Etan Vlessing · · 1m 10s
Matthew Rankin's fever dream of Canada
A Toronto Midnight Madness premiere turns the rise of Brian Mulroney into a collage of archive, animation and effects.
In brief
A Toronto Midnight Madness premiere turns the rise of Brian Mulroney into a collage of archive, animation and effects. Rankin keeps treating Canadian history as raw material for surreal cinema, and the Mulroney film is his boldest swing yet. Originally reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
Films that make you blink
Matthew Rankin builds movies about Canadiana that leave theatre audiences rubbing their eyes, unsure of what they just watched.
“Matthew Rankin's films about Canadiana tend to have theatrical audiences rubbing their eyes.”
A Canada that never was
His 2024 mashup Universal Language imagined a country where Persian and French are the two official languages.
Tim Hortons, reimagined
In that same film, a local Tim Hortons turns into an Arabic tea lounge, one small swap that rewires the whole national picture.
Midnight at the Royal Alex
Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney world premieres Sept. 15 in the Midnight Madness program at Toronto's Royal Alexandra Theatre.
Docufantasia, not documentary
Rankin stitches archival footage, special effects and animation into what he calls a digital docufantasia of politics and pop culture.
“a digital docufantasia of politics and pop culture”
The road to power
The subject is the climb of Brian Mulroney, Canada's 18th prime minister, told through collage rather than straight biography.
The key point
Rankin keeps treating Canadian history as raw material for surreal cinema, and the Mulroney film is his boldest swing yet.
