Careful

Combining the disrespected genre of Leni Riefenstahl’s mountain träumerei with the reviled pro incest theme of Herman Melville’s Pierre, Careful dares to entertain. In the Alpine villa of Tolzbad Maddin’s Oedipal Oz one false move can spur off a fatal avalanche. This constant altitude of repression finds two families immersed in sibling rivalry and sexual shenanigans. Brothers Johann and Grigorss are butlers in training who dream about ravaging their widowed mother and damned if they don’t try. Their temptress, though, is Klara, Tolzbad’s very own Electra: along with her sister, she too lusts after their paterfamilias. Meanwhile, high above, Count Knotkers (director Paul Cox) plots to reclaim his true love. Brushed with a tincture of John Ruskin, Maddin’s first colour film resembles the sweaty two strip pastel Technicolor of Paul Whiteman’s vehicle The King of Jazz, yet feels insanely modern. Along with implementing a dizzying array of Méliès like in camera effects not one shot in this mountain movie is an exterior Careful finds Maddin extra cautious to deliver a coherent, Wagnerian narrative. There are only peaks in this over the top melodrama, where tragedy lurks behind the gestating hysteria like a child peeking out of the safety of the womb. Maddin: `A frightening plunge into colour, into my mother’s lap.’ (M.P.)