Brand Upon the Brain!

Another brilliant, funny, bleak work from director Guy Maddin (The Saddest Music in the World): a black-and-white silent film about — well, a fictional Guy Maddin, being raised on a dreary island, becoming involved with a pair of teen detectives, and…oh, you just have to see this dreamlike creative eruption for yourself. Isabella Rossellini offers some sensuous narration; the EXTRAS include guest narrators like Laurie Anderson and Crispin Glover. There are two new Maddin shorts, plus ”97 Percent True” — billed as a making-of, but really a hilarious, insightful interview with Maddin on how and why he branded these images upon our brains. One of the year’s most enthralling DVD releases. A

• By Ken Tucker