How does one go from making a fever dream, looney-tuned biography about the rise of William Lyon Mackenzie and his rise to power, to the Canadian submission for best foreign language Oscar, to a less fever-dreamed but still incredibly weird, deranged, and oddly nonpolitical documentary on Canada’s 18th Prime Minister Brian Mulroney? Well, that’s only a question director and writer Matthew Rankin (Universal Language; The Twentieth Century) can answer. It truly is a strange career trajectory, but even weirder is making a documentary/biopic about the conservative leader who won Prime Minister from 1976 (when he was made the party lead) to his 1984 election all the way through to 1993 when he resigned from office that doesn’t specifically take a political stance. For a political documentary to not feel political other than just stating what side the subject was on, without weighing in on the deeper politics, is certainly interesting, but it does make it more accessible and ultimately is why Rankin’s Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney works. It just states facts through archival footage and interweaves weird fever dream scenes (including a hallway of brains of which some are still, as of this writing, alive) to create one of the weirdest, engaging, and insanely intriguing documentaries about Canadian governorship.
Brian Mulroney in LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, BRIAN MULRONEY. Photo courtesy of TIFF.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney is a crash course in Canadian civics that proves to be more engaging and interesting than anything I remember learning in high school, but it truly is a masterclass in patience and experimentation to create one of the weirdest, engaging, and truly insane documentaries on Canadian political climate. The documentary is comprised of complete archival footage with the exception of when there are body doubles of Brian Mulroney and Joe Clark to present us the weird, out-of-this-world, other bodily experiences that are put in throughout the documentary, but it is 97% archival footage that is cut to create the narrative structure over four separate chapters.
Brian Mulroney in LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, BRIAN MULRONEY. Photo courtesy of TIFF.
Brian Mulroney was dubbed “The Boy from Baie-Comeau” throughout his political campaigns and he was charming, which, for a political leader, was something Canada had never seen prior. He wanted to change the political structure in the country and decided to bring his charm and dad energy to the forefront and change the political landscape once and for all. Rankin manages to tell this story of Mulroney’s colorful rise to become Prime Minister, focusing on his ascent to power and his playful and non-mean-spirited take down of his political enemies, which ultimately shaped the way Canada currently is.
Brian Mulroney in LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, BRIAN MULRONEY. Photo courtesy of TIFF.
If you haven’t seen Matthew Rankin’s work before, it’s best not to and to just sit back and experience the sheer-brain melting madness that is Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney. If you have experienced his work, this is certainly less zany and unhinged while still being a complete and utter acid trip of an adventure. There really is no way to properly prepare for a Rankin adventure when they’re this contextually, brilliantly insane, but the downfall on this specific piece of work, and on The Twentieth Century, is that they both work tenfold better when you’re surrounded by a rowdy crowd; they’re still enjoyable on your own, but the collective reactions to watching the sheer madness unfold on screen is truly something that cannot be unmatched. That may be more subjective as the movie certainly stands on its own, but mileage may vary.
Screening during Toronto International Film Festival 2026.
For more information, head to the official Toronto International Film Festival Ladies and Gentleman, Brian Mulroney webpage.
Final Score: 4 out of 5.
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Categories: In Theaters, Reviews
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