Watch Tales from the Gimli Hospital For Free

Good concept, poorly executed.

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Guy Maddin is a truly unusual filmmaker.His movies are black comedic and supremely bizarre excursions into silent black-and-white cinema."Tales from the Gimli Hospital" is possibly his most famous and creepiest work to date.This is a wonderfully strange and puzzling movie filled with haunting and disturbing imagery.The action takes place in the small fishing town of Gimli,Manitoba, in some indeterminate time in the early part of the 20th Century.Einar and Gunnar,two men afflicted with the deadly smallpox virus,are housed in the small Gimli Hospital,their bodies covered with the scars of disease,their minds slowly slipping into paranoia and fear.Much of the film is silent,only archaic soundtrack is used regularly.The film is shot in equisite black-and-white and looks terrific.Give it a look,if you enjoy watching surrealist cinema.8 out of 10.

This is the first Maddin film I've seen, and it seems like a great introduction. The other reviewers have already touched on the plot and the mix of surrealism and silent film that Maddin brings together so I won't reiterate. I'll add though that Gimli actually *is* comparable to Eraserhead besides just being low budget and in B&W. (SPOILER AHEAD....) The "fish princess" that Einar sees can be compared to the "lady in the radiator" from Eraserhead, but different in appearance.So, to make this short, pick it up if you're a fan of Luis Bunuel and B&W era Lynch. This should also appeal to the silent film enthusiasts as Maddin is a big one himself.

The comments made above by "Spearin" express my own reaction to this film. I rented it on DVD because it sounded intriguing, but fully expected to yank the disc before it fairly got underway. To my pleased surprise, I was caught up in the story and captivated by the photography from the first seconds, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience--so much so, in fact, that I immediately replayed the movie with the director's often droll narration superimposed. Also on the DVD I rented was a short film by the same author, "The Dead Father," which is well worth watching. It, perhaps even more than "Tales from the Gimli Hospital," evokes early French surrealist film, but not in a slavish way. Both films gave me food for thought--about film and about human relationships. I guess this "nourishment" aspect of film-viewing is my basic criterion for judgment. On that basis, I voted an "eight" for "Tales from the Gimli Hospital."By the way, I was very interested to learn (from the director's commentary) some of the actual history of Gimli and its settlers. These were tough, courageous people.

If you are looking for something unorthodox and bizarre and very arty, you should look into this. Guy Maddin turned his obsession with silent movies, surrealism, Luis Bunuel, David Lynch and god known what else into...something. I probably don't possess enough movie knowledge to competently judge this one or grasp everything that's going on, but I suppose that Maddin has something going here. Not that I had a lot of fun watching it. This is for an exquisite taste only. Nonetheless, it still left me curious about Maddin's other works.