The Drunkard's Lament
40m
Directed by Jim Finn • Documentary • With Linda Montano, Paul Tarragó, Isabella Pinheiro, Murray Gordon, Nandini Khaund, Jim Finn, Cat Mazza, Franz & Cosmina Mazza Finn, Jacob Burckhardt • 2018 • 40 minutes
When Branwell — the ne’er-do-well, tubercular brother of the Brontë sisters — discovered that Emily was writing her first novel, he offered to be her editor. Once he realized that he was the model for the alcoholic Hindley Earnshaw character, he reimagined the story as a musical memoir of his own life with Hindley as the hero. Edited and arranged from the damaged film fragments, notes, sheet music and letters to his best friend Francis, this weird and revisionist adaptation looks to have premiered on the 50th anniversary of the deaths of Emily and Branwell Brontë.