Guy Maddin ( Canada’s answer to David Lynch) sets his black-and-white, loopily surreal twist on early-era noir in a dusty mansion teeming with ghosts.
Returning after a long absence, gangster Ulysses (Jason Patric) embarks on a journey through his home to reach his wife (Isabella Rossellini), who’s locked in her room.
The house not only reflects Ulysses’ mind but becomes a metaphor for cinema itself – a strange storage contraption for memory and the past’s spectres.
Though self-referential to a fault, the deadpan humour, frayed logic and monochrome dazzle cast their own richly peculiar spell.