Playing with Memories

“Playing with Memories is a handy compendium of reflections on “vision” and thematic preoccupations, with some close readings of particular films…”

– Literary Review of Canada

“On one hand, because Maddin is such a good interview subject (funny, irreverent, brimming with arcane information), it comes as no surprise to discover that all of the sixteen essays included in this book are highly readable. What’s more, they cover virtually everything essential to the man’s oeuvre (with the curious exception of his repeated borrowings from silent Scandinavian cinema). On the other hand, precisely because he is such a frank, seemingly open interview subject, if there was anything Maddin did feel like hiding from the world, he would be ideally situated to do just that.”

– Mark Harris, Canadian Literature, Spring 2011

“David Church has compiled the first-ever collection of scholarly writings on various Maddin films. … Church’s volume offers insights by scholars from the United States, Canada, and Australia, making it an international collection. That so many American film scholars have contributed to the book is indicative of Maddin’s stature in contemporary filmmaking.”

– George Melnyk, University of Calgary, Great Plains Quarterly, Spring 2011

“This is an interesting, quite readable, and valuable collection of essays. The
essays trace the gradual development of Maddin’s work, films marked not only by a set
of recurrent themes and obsessions—sex, death, and violence—but also explorations of
memory, distortion, and unyielding sadness.

– Trevor W. Harrison, University of Lethbridge, American Review of Canadian Studies