Archangel

1991

1 hr. 30 min.

Horror

List

78%

9 Reviews

Tomatometer

64%

250+ Ratings

Audience Score

Lt. John Boles (Kyle McCulloch), a British soldier fighting in World War I, is trapped in the icy Russian town of Archangel. When Boles meets a local couple named Veronkha (Kathy Marykuca) and Philbin (Ari Cohen), he falls for Veronkha because she seems to be his late wife's doppleganger. What follows is a twisted love triangle, as Philbin -- an amnesiac -- forgets that he is married to Veronkha, while Boles begins to think that Veronkha is his dead wife.

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1001 movies to see before you die. Another lost Flister rating. This was surreal, creepy, bizarre, unforgettable and at the same time fascinating. Props for the unique vision and that it left me wanting to talk about it. It was on Internet Archive.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

William L

As someone completely unfamiliar with Guy Maddin, I had no idea what Archangel was going to be like, went in completely blind. What I ended up with was a bizarre film that emulates silent-era visual aesthetics with a strange plot that jumps back and forth between drama and comedy with a surrealist twist that leads the film feeling almost like a strange fever dream. Permeated by a Catch-22-ish absurdism where soldiers featuring some sort of humorous idiosyncrasies fight wars that have already concluded without their knowledge, Archangel seems to bounce back and forth between sincere tribute to the earliest days of cinema, and a parody of its simplistic tone and themes. I can't say that the film was particularly impactful to me (it's a bit too off-kilter for that), but it is at least different and distinctive.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

07/05/21

Full Review

Audience Member

a surrealistic visual trip like Bunnel, Lynch or the gr8 classic 'Metropolis"

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Amnesiacs aplenty in this absurdly boring ode to silent cinema, warts and all. Guy Maddin has been compared to David Lynch but this load of crap, his second feature is no Elephant Man.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

02/15/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Some beautiful shots capturing the style of early silent films. The story, though, is a mess; perplexing in a most tedious way. I admire the ambition, but suggest that there are better uses of one's time than watching this.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/12/23

Full Review

Audience Member

As usual, you will either love or hate this Guy Maddin film.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

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Guy Maddin

Director

Kyle McCulloch

Lt. John Boles

Kathy Marykuca

Lt. John Boles

Ari Cohen

Philbin

Sarah Neville

Danchuk

Michael Gottli

Jannings

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Jake Cole

Slant Magazine

Guy Maddin’s sophomore feature reveals a young director mastering his influences before coming into his own.

Mar 11, 2024

Full Review

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

What comes across is a fascinating fetishist delirium, where memories of remote war movies get recycled into something that's alternately creepy and beautiful.

May 8, 2007

Full Review

Geoff Andrew

Time Out

Confused? No matter; so are the characters in this absurdist melodrama.

Feb 9, 2006

Full Review

Sean Axmaker

Parallax View

... a surreal silent movie melodrama of love, war, and amnesia for the sound era: an absurdist silent WWI epic that never was.

Dec 21, 2010

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

Inspired absurdist melodrama.

Rated: B

Oct 1, 2009

Full Review

Michael Szymanski

Wordmag.com

Rated: 0/5

Oct 15, 2005

Full Review

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Synopsis

Lt. John Boles (Kyle McCulloch), a British soldier fighting in World War I, is trapped in the icy Russian town of Archangel. When Boles meets a local couple named Veronkha (Kathy Marykuca) and Philbin (Ari Cohen), he falls for Veronkha because she seems to be his late wife's doppleganger. What follows is a twisted love triangle, as Philbin -- an amnesiac -- forgets that he is married to Veronkha, while Boles begins to think that Veronkha is his dead wife.

Director: Guy Maddin
Genre: Horror
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 17, 2020

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