Synopsis
The mountain-village passions of a German widow and her sons unfold in the style of a 1920s movie.
Your Movie Library
Cast
- Kyle McCullochGrigorss
- Małgorzata DobrowolskaZenaida
- Sarah NevilleKlara
- Brent NealeJohann
- Paul CoxCount Knotkers
- Victor CowieHerr Trotta
- Michael O'SullivanBlind Ghost
- Vince RimmerFranz
- Katya GardnerSigleinde
- Jackie BurroughsFrau Teacher
Recommendations
- 88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Canadian director Guy Maddin is an artist supreme - he steals with a liberal flourish and with enough sheer imagination that his previous films (Tales from the Gimli Hospital, Archangel) are often described as boldly original. Careful, his latest offering, is no exception - it's an honours graduate from the same school of dusted-off originality. [10 Oct 1992] - 80
Time Out
Uniquely weird, subtly macabre, and utterly compelling. - 75
Washington Post
Careful, the hilariously bizarre new film from Canadian director Guy Maddin, is like some lost masterpiece from a time-warped alternative dimension -- a strange artifact that time forgot. - 75
The A.V. Club
Although longer and more complex than Gimli, thanks to a fine script by Maddin and George Toles, Careful is equally claustrophobic. The director's continued use of minimal lighting, deliberately phony-looking studio sets, and sterile overdubs perpetuates a feeling of blatant manufacture which undercuts any disturbing themes. - 75
Chicago Reader
If you like the early work of David Lynch you should definitely check this out; Maddin's films are every bit as beautiful and in certain respects a lot more sophisticated. - 60
TV Guide Magazine
While the deliberately amateurish, stilted acting seems at odds with the fruity dialogue, Maddin's intention is to subdue every aspect of his peculiar dreamscape; acting, decor, costuming, cinematography and sound recording remain equal components. No one element predominates or upsets the director's carefully controlled chaos. - 60
Washington Post
Maddin keeps what could have been a one-joke theme interesting for an admirably long time. But eventually, it becomes, well, hard to breathe. There's something wonderfully unique about the project but the reasons for doing it remain buried. - 60
The New York Times
If the central performances in Careful approached the earnest intensity of some of its early-1930's inspirations, the movie would probably be twice as funny.
