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Poster for Careful

Careful

1992 · 1h 40m · N/A Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Directed by Guy Maddin

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Overview

In the remote Alpine village of Tolzbad at the turn of the century, people talk quietly and restrain their movements lest avalanches come and kill them. This atmosphere lends itself to repressed emotions - shown through the parallel stories of butler student Johann lusting after his mother (an old flame of the mysterious Count Knotkers) and Klara's attraction to her father (who lusts after his other daughter), leading to duels and suicidal plunges galore. All this is shot in the style of an early German sound film, complete with intertitles, deliberately crackly soundtrack and 'hand-tinted' colour effects.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
83%
Tomatometer
Fresh

In part a hilarious satire about Canadian timidity, it also comes across periodically as a formalist gem about nothing at all.

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Fresh

Careful is one long and amusing pun on German Expressionistic film imagery, Freudian psychology and quasi-Wagnerian storytelling, all carried to absurdist lengths.

Stephen Holden, New York Times
Rotten

There's something wonderfully unique about the project but the reasons for doing it remain buried.

Desson Thomson, Washington Post
Fresh

Careful, the hilariously bizarre new film from Canadian director Guy Maddin, is like some lost masterpiece from a time-warped alternative dimension -- a strange artifact that time forgot.

Hal Hinson, Washington Post
Fresh

Uniquely weird, subtly macabre, and utterly compelling.

Time Out

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