Underplayed Gems

The Twentieth Century (2019)

The Twentieth Century poster
Directed by
Matthew Rankin
Genre
drama film
Country
Canada
Runtime
1h 30m
Rated
15
Rating
6.3 of 10 from 25 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

A surreal black comedy about the rise of a Canadian prime minister. The film mixes real history with invented fantasy in a highly stylized way.

surrealwhimsicalabsurdistcampytheatricaloffbeatsatiricalstylized

What happens

The Twentieth Century is a 2019 Canadian surrealist historical black comedy film written and directed by Matthew Rankin, in his feature directorial debut. The film presents a fictionalized portrait of the rise to power of former Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, played by Dan Beirne. The film also star Catherine St-Laurent, Louis Negin and Seán Cullen. The film is not a realistic or literally accurate depiction of Canadian history, instead mixing and matching elements of real history with invented fantasia in a stylized manner reminiscent of the films of Guy Maddin, and taking place largely on deliberately unrealistic sets influenced by German Expressionism, 1940s melodrama and wartime propaganda films. Rankin himself described it as "one part Canadian Heritage Minute and one part ayahuasca death trip". The film premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, winning the award for Best Canadian First Feature Film. It received positive reviews from critics and won three Canadian Screen Awards out of eight nominations, including Best Motion Picture and Best Director. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

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