William Kurelek's The Maze (1969)
- Original title
- The Maze
- Directed by
- Robert Milton Young
- Genre
- documentary
- Country
- United States
- Runtime
- 1h
- Elsewhere
- IMDb
The catalogue in 3D
The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.
How it feels
This documentary follows painter William Kurelek as he opens up about his mental health struggles and his time in psychiatric hospitals. His artwork, especially the painting The Maze, becomes a way to show his inner turmoil, with the film using his own words and images to tell his story.
intimatereflectivesomberslow-pacedcandidpsychedelicvisually dense
What happens
William Kurelek's The Maze is a documentary film about the life of celebrated Canadian artist William Kurelek, "dramatically told through his paintings and his on-camera revelations." The film documents the artist's struggles with attempted suicide and what he called a "spiritual crisis." At the center of the film is Kurelek's work The Maze, which he describes in the film as "a painting of the inside of [his] skull which [he] painted while in England as a patient in Maudsley and Netherne psychiatric hospitals." This painting depicts a man's "unraveled head lying in a wheat field. A curled up laboratory rat, representing his spirit, is trapped inside a maze of unhappy thoughts and memories." (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)
More like this
The Image (1969)
Loving Vincent (2017)
Conversations in Vermont (1969)
Genei Toshi (1967)
Night and Fog (1956)
Hour of the Wolf (1968)
Coming Apart (1969)
Capriccio (1969)- More like this film, on a shelf you can walk up to.It's the lit case on the top shelf.