Archangel (BLU-RAY)

Literally a film like no other, ARCHANGEL is a weird, wild and extraordinary photoplay that is both a melodrama and a deadpan parody of silent film style. With striking black and white cinematography and stylized set design, Guy Maddin’s second feature (following his startling debut TALES FROM THE GIMLI HOSPITAL) is a tale of obsessive love from one of Canada’s, and the world’s, most original filmmakers, presented in a beautiful 4K restoration. In 1919, one-legged Canadian soldier Lt. John Boles arrives in the northern Russian town of Archangel where Bolsheviks, White Russians and German Huns converge during World War I. When Boles encounters Veronkha, he faints and becomes convinced that she is his dead wife Iris. But Veronkha is already married to Philbin who also suffers from amnesia and relives their wedding night over and over without remembering any moment after. What follows is a twisted love triangle infused with infatuation as each person forgets who it is that they truly love.