Tales from the Gimli Hospital (1988)
A film by Guy Maddin
This is the first feature film from Canadian director Guy Maddin. It's set in the surreal town of Gimli, Manitoba, a long time ago, during an outbreak of smallpox. Two patients in a strange hospital become friends, then deadly rivals. The film is in its own surreal world, with the town of Gimli featuring unconventional behaviour from the people. They wash their faces with straw, squeeze the insides of fish on to their heads and rub dead birds over patient's wounds. There's also a cow that resides under a bed and a strange black-faced minstrel. The image of the fish is also prevalent in many scenes. It really is a special piece of low budget surreal filmmaking and is deservedly compared to David Lynch's Eraserhead.
