#FIRSTLOOK: NEW TRAILER FOR “RUMOURS”

Hot off its’ TIFF ’24 Premiere, Guy Maddin‘s RUMOURS gets a new Trailer! In theatres October 18, 2024 via Elevation Pictures.

Directed by: Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Roy Dupuis, Nikki Amuka-Bird,
Charles Dance, Takehiro Hira, Denis Ménochet,
Rolando Ravello, Zlatko Burić, Alicia Vikander

Ricocheting between comedy, apocalyptic horror, and swooning soap opera, Rumours follows the seven leaders of the world’s wealthiest democracies at the annual G7 summit, where they attempt to draft a provisional statement regarding a global crisis. With unexpected, uproarious performances from a brilliant ensemble cast that includes Cate Blanchett, Alicia Vikander, and Charles Dance, these so-called leaders become spectacles of incompetence, contending with increasingly surreal obstacles in the misty woods as night falls and they realize they are suddenly alone. A genre-hopping satire of political ineptitude, the latest film from incomparable directors Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson is a journey into the absurd heart of power and institutional failure in a slowly burning world.

(Photo/video credit: Elevation Pictures)

#TIFF24: “RUMOURS” REVIEW

By Nicholas Porteous

At their annual summit, the G7 world leaders are tasked with writing a provisional statement in a cozy gazebo in the middle of the woods, but everything goes haywire and they become lost in a forest full of zombies and a giant pulsating brain. Y’know, standard TIFF fare. This is Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson‘s Rumours–a surprisingly vague title for such a specifically wacky film.

“This isn’t Summer Camp” notes the British Prime Minister (Nikki Amuka Bird) as a reminder to our Canadian leader (Roy Dupuis), but you’d be very much forgiven for confusing these elected officials with a gang of unruly teens. As one should expect from Maddin and the Johnsons, these supposed adults are–to put it mildly–very silly. Caught-up in their own personal affairs (mainly surrounding the inescapably troubled but undeniably sexy Canadian Prime Minister), existential angst, and–yes—rumours! Cate Blanchett is exceedingly hilarious as the German Chancellor, alongside a buffoonish Rolando Ravello, representing Italy in a particularly unflattering light of aloofness. Charles Dance gives a solid turn as the American President who wants nothing more than to die–although his unwavering British accent had me scratching my head. The Movie makes a winking reference to the odd choice, but never justifies it in a satisfying way, which feels like a missed opportunity.

Rumours is very funny, and I found myself howling more than once at the evergreen comic premise of world leaders behaving like children, but as a feature there’s not much more to it than that. It’s a well-acted, whimsical, 118-minute sketch. Without any real stakes or a compelling dramatic engine, the movie feels more than a bit meandering as a narrative, and its climax does little to distinguish itself from the rest of the proceedings. Does it have a point beyond “world leaders are, at their core, self-obsessed, goofy children just like you and me and we’re all doomed”? If it does, I didn’t see it. But if you enjoy the madcap fever dreams that Maddin and the Johnsons are known for, and you’re willing to bask in that for two hours–arguably an hour beyond its expiration time–Rumours has that energy in spades.

Rumours screens at TIFF ’24:

Monday, September 9 at 8:30 PM at The Royal Alexandra Theatre

Tuesday, September 10 at 4:30 PM at Scotiabank Theatre

#CANNES: CANADIAN FILMES TO PREMIERE AT CANNES 2024

The announcement of the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival marks the largest Canadian presence at the festival in the last 12 years. More than 300 Canadians from across the country will be on the Croisette from May 14 to 25, 2024.

In the official selection, Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice (his third film in the official selection at Cannes) and David Cronenberg’s The Shrouds (his seventh film in the official selection at Cannes) have been selected for competition. In the short film competition, Perfectly a Strangeness by Alison McAlpine is in the running. Telos I by Emil Dam Seidel and Dorotea Saykaly, and The Roaming by Mathieu Pradat have been selected for the new immersive competition. Finally, out of competition, Rumours by Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson is part of the selection.

In addition, the parallel sections of the Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week include Une Langue Universelle (Universal Language) by Matthew Rankin and Alazar by Beza Hailu Lemma.

The films Rumours, The Shrouds, and Une Langue Universelle (Universal Language) received funding from Telefilm Canada.

“Canadian talent shines brightly at Cannes,” said Julie Roy, Executive Director and CEO of Telefilm Canada. “This year’s outstanding representation reflects the artistic excellence of a variety of talents, from the most experienced to the emerging, and the incredible diversity of the stories they tell us, in all their forms. This is what characterizes our national cinematography, which resonates and captivates audiences around the world. This exceptional year also demonstrates the growing interest of other countries to collaborate with Canada. It’s truly stimulating to see this openness of working together, strengthening our cultural and creative ties, and enriching our global film scene!”

In addition to the Cannes Film Festival, the large Canadian delegation will also be taking part in the Marché du Film (featuring 27 Canadian titles), playing a key role as project promoters. This active participation will enable Canadian film professionals to connect with potential partners, develop new projects and explore opportunities to collaborate on an international scale. This reflects Canada’s commitment to promoting its audiovisual industry and strengthening its ties with the global film community.

#FIRSTLOOK: NEW IMAGE FROM GUY MADDIN’S “RUMOURS”

Rumours, a cautionary dramedy cum erotico-ministerial techno-thriller and provisional Götterdämmerung written and directed by Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson, has been accepted, with only minimal reservations, misgivings, caveats, and scruples, by the Official Selection committee of the Cannes Film Festival, a regional cinema conference and entertainment expo held every single year, almost without exception, in the south of France.

The famous festival, named for the humble, salt-of-the-earth fishing village in which its screenings are held and which, in 154 BC, was the site of a brief but violent conflict between the troops of Quintus
Optimus and the Oxbii, is known for its sandy beaches and the noonday torpor of its local vendors.
Rumours’ Canuck helmers had this to say: “Compelled by the looming doomsdays with which we are become too familiar, seduced by the eschatological sinuosities inscribed provocatively across our sulphur-clotted skies, with nothing but hopelessness to console ourselves, and with our chill-blasted souls much in need of the warmth sometimes only nostalgia can provide, we directors have turned our despairing attentions, rosary beads chattering like teeth in our skeletal fingers, to the quaint old customs of diplomacy — namely the G7!”

Along with the above-quoted cri de coeur, the three co-helmers have released a photographic still image from their film, an image that it would hardly be an exaggeration to call “a moral triumph”, nor would anyone be mocked or criticized for saying so.

Addendum from Executive Producer Ari Aster: “The fact that Guy Maddin, the most idiosyncratic and original Canadian filmmaker of the ’20s and ’30s, found Evan and Galen Johnson, the most idiosyncratic and original Canadian filmmakers of the moment, is miraculous. The fact that they have departed so freely from their brilliant work of the last decade, while still retaining their prodigious gift for hyperbolic wordplay and their endless comic and aesthetic invention, is more miraculous yet. RUMOURS is stoopid and hilarious and wonderful, and it features the best cast ever assembled. The spirit of Buñuel and Monty Python and overwrought ’70s television (and of course the Maddin/Johnson sensibility, which has no real analogue) is alive and strange.”

Directed by: Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson

Written by: Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson

Starring: Cate Blanchett, Alicia Vikander, Roy Dupuis, Charles Dance, Denis Ménochet, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Rolando Ravello, Takehiro Hira, Zlatko Burić

Produced by: Liz Jarvis, Philipp Kreuzer, Lars Knudsen

Executive Produced by: Andrew Karpen, Kent Sanderson, Ari Aster, Jörg Schulze, Phyllis Laing, Blair Ward, Anders Erden, Lauren Case, Eric Harbert, Gillian Hormel, Mary Aloe, Stefan Kapelari, Gábor Sipos, Gábor Rajna