TRAILERS

Crazy Trailer for Absurdly Weird Canadian Biopic 'Twentieth Century'

by Alex Billington
October 29, 2020
Source: YouTube

"A colorized acid trip through historic hell." Oscilloscope Labs has unveiled the US trailer for Twentieth Century, a very strange and absurdly weird biopic of sorts. This premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last year, and also played at the Berlin, Cartagena, Bucheon, and L'Étrange Film Festivals this year. Renowned for his mesmerizing, gonzo biographical short films Mynarski Death Plummet and The Tesla World Light, filmmaker Matthew Rankin doubles down on his signature blend of historical and aesthetic abstraction with his debut feature, a bizarre biopic that re-imagines the formative years of the former Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King as a series of abject humiliations. This uber wacky, expressionism adventure stars Dan Beirne as Mackenzie, plus Sarianne Cormier, Catherine St-Laurent, Mikhaïl Ahooja, Brent Skagford, Seán Cullen, and Louis Negin. It's almost impossible to describe this film - some will hate it, some will go nuts for it. But at least it exists, for better or worse. You have to take a look.

Here's the first official trailer (+ posters) for Matthew Rankin's Twentieth Century, from YouTube:

Toronto, 1899. Aspiring young politician Mackenzie King (Vancouver Film Critics Circle award for Best Actor winner Dan Beirne) dreams of becoming the Prime Minister of Canada. But his romantic vacillation between a British soldier and a French nurse, exacerbated by a fetishistic obsession, may well bring about his downfall. In his quest for power, King must gratify the expectations of his imperious Mother, the hawkish fantasies of a war-mongering Governor-General, and the utopian idealism of a Québécois mystic before facing one, final test of leadership. Culminating in an epic battle between good and evil, King learns that disappointment may be the defining characteristic of the twentieth century! Twentieth Century is both written and directed by Canadian filmmaker Matthew Rankin, making his feature directorial debut after numerous short films and other projects previously. This first premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last year. Oscilloscope Labs will release Rankin's Twentieth Century in "virtual cinemas" in the US starting on November 20th this fall. For more details, visit their official website. Anyone curious about this one?

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