[go: up one dir, main page]

    Release calendarTop 250 moviesMost popular moviesBrowse movies by genreTop box officeShowtimes & ticketsMovie newsIndia movie spotlight
    What's on TV & streamingTop 250 TV showsMost popular TV showsBrowse TV shows by genreTV news
    What to watchLatest trailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightFamily entertainment guideIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsEmmysSan Diego Comic-ConSummer Watch GuideToronto Int'l Film FestivalIMDb Stars to WatchSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll events
    Born todayMost popular celebsCelebrity news
    Help centerContributor zonePolls
For industry professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign in
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • FAQ
IMDbPro

Tales from the Gimli Hospital

  • 1988
  • 1h 12m
IMDb RATING
6.6/10
1.6K
YOUR RATING
Tales from the Gimli Hospital (1988)
Watch Tales from the Gimli Hospital Redux - official trailer
Play trailer1:11
1 Video
59 Photos
Dark ComedyFolk HorrorComedyDramaFantasyHorrorThriller

While their mother is dying in the modern Gimli, Manitoba hospital, two young children are told a tale by their Icelandic grandmother about Einar the Lonely, his friend Gunnar, and the angel... Read allWhile their mother is dying in the modern Gimli, Manitoba hospital, two young children are told a tale by their Icelandic grandmother about Einar the Lonely, his friend Gunnar, and the angelic Snjofridur in a Gimli of old.While their mother is dying in the modern Gimli, Manitoba hospital, two young children are told a tale by their Icelandic grandmother about Einar the Lonely, his friend Gunnar, and the angelic Snjofridur in a Gimli of old.

  • Director
    • Guy Maddin
  • Writer
    • Guy Maddin
  • Stars
    • Kyle McCulloch
    • Michael Gottli
    • Angela Heck
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.6/10
    1.6K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Guy Maddin
    • Writer
      • Guy Maddin
    • Stars
      • Kyle McCulloch
      • Michael Gottli
      • Angela Heck
    • 15User reviews
    • 30Critic reviews
    • 71Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 nomination total

    Videos1

    Tales from the Gimli Hospital Redux - official trailer
    Trailer 1:11
    Tales from the Gimli Hospital Redux - official trailer

    Photos58

    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    + 52
    View Poster

    Top cast69

    Edit
    Kyle McCulloch
    • Einar the Lonely…
    Michael Gottli
    • Gunnar
    Angela Heck
    • Snjófridur
    Margaret Anne MacLeod
    • Amma
    Heather Neale
    • Granddaughter
    David Neale
    • Grandson
    Don Hewak
    • John Ramsay
    Ron Eyolfson
    • Pastor Osbaldison
    • (as Ronald Eyolfson)
    • …
    Chris Johnson
    • Lord Dufferin
    Donna Szöke
    • Fish Princess
    Tiffany Taylor
    • Gunnar's Strolling Companion…
    Linda Schinkel
    • Dying Mother
    Jeff Solylo
    • Angry Husband
    Randy Kray
    • Angel
    George Toles
    • Angel With Mustache
    Carmen Snidal
    • Sigvalda Sigurdsdottír
    Brent Neale
    Brent Neale
    • Valdimar…
    Greg Klymkiw
    • Gravedigger I
    • Director
      • Guy Maddin
    • Writer
      • Guy Maddin
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews15

    6.61.5K
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10

    Featured reviews

    7thelonesomeroad

    Not necessarily as strange as it seems...

    I picked up this movie since I live in Gimli, and have heard interesting things about Guy Maddin. Though certainly a strange and surrealist film, it is also a monument and critique of Icelandic culture, and Gimli, where he had a summer cottage. If you know the history of Gimli, and are familiar with Icelandic culture, certain parts of the film do not seem strange at all. I would be interested in knowing how people not knowing these things interpreted things like the marriage across the river, or the food served at the hospital. I am in love with the aesthetics of it. He has been able to capture the exact look of early films, right down to actors and costuming, yet this doesn't seem to take over the film. Though I am personally a bigger fan of Maddin's short films, I enjoyed trying to work my way through this.
    7mjneu59

    a custom-built cult item

    Fans of David Lynch and early Luis Buñuel will find plenty to admire (or scratch their head at) in this esoteric, shoestring budget mock Icelandic folk tale, set in a bleak sub-arctic village where victims of a mysterious plague are treated by having their sores caressed with dead seagulls. Winnipeg director Guy Maddin borrows extensively from the primitive vocabulary of the early sound era (with grainy photography, a scratchy music score, and crude post-dubbed dialogue) to create a nonsensical 70-minute punchline with no joke attached. The antique style of the production would have to be considered its own reward, especially since the story itself (involving incest, hints of necrophilia, and a mysterious butt-grabbing duel to the death) leads nowhere in particular. The awkward emoting by Nordic characters named Gunnar, Snjofridur, and Einar the lonely; the Louise Brooks look-alike nurses; and the cameo appearance of a black-faced vaudeville minstrel are all reminiscent of some nightmarish, early 1930s melodrama, but Maddin's aesthetic is aimed squarely at today's midnight cult audiences.
    8HumanoidOfFlesh

    Truly surreal and grotesque film.

    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.
    ametaphysicalshark

    Welcome to the world of Guy Maddin

    I can't think of a better introduction to eccentric Canadian auteur Guy Maddin than "Tales from the Gimli Hospital". Maddin's feature debut is as ingeniously bizarre and surreal as many of his later followings and despite being a bit rough around the edges it is more than deserving of its devoted cult following which regard it as one of the best films of the 80's. I can't agree with that particular statement but it is unquestionably one of the most unique and interesting films of the decade, and certainly among the more memorable Canadian films to emerge during the time period.

    While two children are witnessing their mother's slow death in a modern-day hospital in Gimli, Manitoba, they are told a story by their grandmother set in Gimli many years before. The story is a fascinating and complex one, echoing a parable at times and at others simply bizarre. Often compared to David Lynch's "Eraserhead", "Tales from the Gimli Hospital" is a far more straightforward film, actually, and one with a narrative that requires interpretation but can be followed quite easily. It is an interesting parallel to Lynch's debut, however.

    As noted previously the film is rough around the edges in terms of budget and other constraints and Maddin isn't as comfortable and confident a director as he would later become, but the film works wonderfully as a whole and comes highly recommended.

    8/10
    bob the moo

    The narrative is a bit of a problem but like most Maddin films, there is plenty to carry the load

    In the modern town of Gimli, two young children watch their mother dying in hospital. To distract them they are told a story of old Gimli by their grandmother. In the story it is Gimli years ago when live was disrupted by an outbreak of smallpox. With poor medical facilities available to him, Einar finds himself in a nightmarish half-waking state of "care" with other sufferers, including his friend Gunnar, who are somewhere between life and death. The two friends grow close but shared secrets threaten to tear them apart as the world around them changes quickly.

    As someone who actually likes Guy Maddin I still have to be honest and say that, while my favourite films of his have narratives I like, usually his work is not where you want to come for stories that grip you and make a lot of sense. And so it is with his first feature film, a story that is being told to two children who, for some reason, are in the room where their mother is dying; it sounds strange and indeed it is. The narrative is interesting enough but if that's all there was here of value then you'd have given up quite quickly; happily there is enough of interest going on to engage the audience despite the narrative being rather incoherent at times. This is not to say that it will appeal to all viewers because of course it will not, but for those that "get" his other films, the story will not be a problem.

    The reason for this is that his unique style is fully on display here (albeit with a lower budget) and this makes it interesting if not totally engrossing. At times the style overwhelmed the lesser substance to such an extent that it did feel rather hollow but this was a rare feeling for me. Normally I have that problem with his shorts but, with a low running time, it usually doesn't matter so much. With his features it can be a problem but he mastered it with the wonderful Cowards Bend At The Knee and he does enough to cover it here. It did feel a bit sparse at times although that is probably more to do with me being used to his bigger budget films (bigger being a comparative term) rather than the film being weak visually. The cast don't really give much in the way of performances so much as be carried along with the direction but this isn't that much of a problem since the film was never about them.

    Overall this film is an acquired taste that will not appeal to those who dislike other Maddin films. Compared to his later films, this feels a lot less flashy and sparse but it still works and will please fans of Maddin. Narrative-wise it has some problems that viewers may find difficult to get past but the many strange and imaginative touches to the overall delivery of the film more than cover for these issues and, while not an equal to some of his recent work, this is still worth a watch.

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      According to Guy Maddin the plot of Tales from the Gimli Hospital (1988) was inspired by "The Eternal Husband," by Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Maddin's own experience of cuckolding a friend.
    • Quotes

      Amma: It all happened in a Gimli we no longer know.

    • Connections
      Featured in Guy Maddin: En attendant le crépuscule (1997)
    • Soundtracks
      The Vikings
      (uncredited)

      from Les Vikings (1958)

      Music by Mario Nascimbene

    Top picks

    Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
    Sign in

    FAQ14

    • How long is Tales from the Gimli Hospital?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • March 12, 1997 (France)
    • Country of origin
      • Canada
    • Languages
      • Icelandic
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Geschichten aus dem Gimli Hospital
    • Filming locations
      • Gimli, Manitoba, Canada
    • Production companies
      • Extra Large Productions
      • The Canada Manitoba Cultural Industries Development Office (CIDO)
      • Winnipeg Film Group
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $25,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 12m(72 min)
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
    Follow IMDb on social
    Get the IMDb App
    For Android and iOS
    Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • License IMDb Data
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.