The Twentieth Century

Kindred spirit to fellow Winnipegger Guy Maddin, first-time feature director Matthew Rankin has crafted an outrageously weird and funny faux-historical drama about the rise of Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King in the 1920s, reimagined as some kind of Dali-esque fever-dream by way of Monty Python. Filled with boot fetishes, an ejaculating cactus, and ice skating, it’s a psychosexual political satire like nothing you’ve ever seen. (Chicago International Film Festival)