Guy Maddin

Director and Cinematographer, Guy Maddin, utilizes the power of visuals to relay the story in his Technicolor vision, ‘Careful’ (1992). We delve into the precautionary lives of the people of Tolzbad, a fictitious town surrounded by mountains whose hypersensitivity to avalanches are caused by any subtle act of humans expressing a lack of self-control. 

Guy Maddin is a contortionist with his film techniques - amplified sound effects, double exposed frames, manipulated negative space, and multiple color gels over his lens - all encapsulated under his main inspiration from the original hyper-realist methods of early sound cinematography. 

Maddin utilizes Technicolor framing techniques as well as negative space to remind the viewers that we are actively engaging into the character’s lives from afar. He tints his Super-8 6mm camera lens with blood red in moments of danger, the primary function of his prologue. 

Double exposing his frames and creating dissolving scenes to create an otherworldly, mesmerizing cinematic dream for us to view, Maddin incorporates sound to heighten the experience of peculiarity. Whispers of the characters are magnified in sound louder than the actual music of the film, and witty sound effects are applied to the simplest of actions as a reminder of the oddity of the mystical land of Tolzbadians. 

words ELLEN GRACE

Careful
director GUY MADDIN
year 1992
director of photography GUY MADDIN
cast GOSIA DOBROWOLSKA, KYLE MCCULLOCH, BRENT WILLIAM NEALE, GEORGE TOLES and PAUL COX