Guy Maddin’s “hilariously bizarre” CAREFUL (1992) — new 4K restoration

LOST IN THE ARTHOUSE is a monthly series hosted by Arkadin co-owner Keith Watson that takes you to hidden corners of filmdom far from Hollywood. From must-see classics to obscurities waiting to be discovered, these films stand at cinema’s bleeding edge.
“Hilariously bizarre… like some lost masterpiece from a time-warped alternative dimension.” – The Washington Post
Arkadin favorite Guy Maddin’s early masterpiece takes place in a 19th-century Alpine village where the wary residents—adult, child and animal—must speak softly and tread lightly lest they cause an avalanche. But sexual frenzies teem in this world of repression, setting off incestuous love triangles and quadrangles with deadly consequences. Bathed in lurid, luminescent tints, CAREFUL is Maddin’s twisted ode to a largely forgotten film subgenre, the German “Bergfilme” of the 1920s and ’30s, which pitted man (and woman) against mountain in epic survivalist adventures. Merging these bygone conventions with Maddin’s own delirious obsessions results in a truly singular work that resembles a vintage melodrama from another planet.