The Saddest Music in the World (2003)

The music is you

Love, death, beer, dismemberment, and really sad music.

"The Saddest Music" in the world is perhaps Guy Maddin's most accessable movie to date, from a director known for strange, eerie pieces of work. But it's also a brilliantly surreal tragicomedy, with shimmers of German expressionism painted over a story about fumbling for artificial happiness, in the middle of all that sad music.

It's snow-smothered Winnipeg, in the Depression. Failing producer Chester (Mark McKinney) and his amnesiac girlfriend Narcissa (Maria de Medeiros) into a bar, just as beer baroness Lady Helen Port-Huntley (Isabella Rossellini) announces something on the radio: a musical contest for the saddest song in the world, with $25,000 as the prize. Hundreds of musicians arrive to compete, hoping to bag the prize (and get bathed in beer).

She is also an old flame of Chester's, who blames him and his alcoholic father for the loss of her legs -- a loss that his dad Fyodor (David Fox) is trying to remedy, by making her glass prosthetics. And his brother Roderick returns home, paralyzed by grief over his son's death and his wife leaving. But when he discovers his wife -- Narcissa -- is with his brother, he is determined to beat Chester. Who will create the saddest music in the world?

"The Saddest Music In the World" is a really weird movie -- it's full of glass legs, hearts in jars, skating funerals, and an antlered seer who predicts doom for Chester. But the movie is really focused on just one thing: the false happiness that people seek from transient things -- money, prosthetics, booze -- and how these only lead to more heartbreak in the end.

Maddin has a pretty unique style -- neo-expressionist, like an old 1920s German silent film made in twenty-first century Canada. It's grainy and full of rapid cuts (dozens of musicians playing until they bloody their hands), shadows and stark white faces, even against the drifting snow. The only exception is the dream sequences, which are just as blurry but full of vibrant colour.

But he sprinkles it with darkly humorous moments -- Fyodor chugging beer from a glass leg -- and dialogue ranging from zany ("I'm not an American. I'm a nymphomaniac") to weirdly poetic ("... to lay claim to the jewel-studded crown... of frozen tears"). And there are moments of sorrow too, such as Roderick playing his ultimate sad song, for a woman who is only starting to remember him.

McKinney is deliciously despicable as the amoral Chester, Medeiros is sweet as the wide-eyed nympho, and McMillan is heartbreaking as the mournful Roderick, who is haunted by the loss of his family. But Rossellini really rules the movie as the brilliantly cruel, powerful Lady Port-Huntley -- she rules every scene, even when she gets dumped into a bathtub.

"The Saddest Music in the World" is a deliciously bizarre tragicomedy, filmed with Guy Maddin's neo-expressionist flair. Definitely a unique, delightfully dark movie. May 21, 2008

I Fear Music When I Call Your Name

If Un Chien Andalou, The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari, The Blue Angel, Samuel Beckett's "Film," Buster Keaton, German Expressionism, Tristan Tzara, Jean Cocteau, and LSD have any resonance for you - then you are ready to dive into a large, foamy vat of The Saddest Music In The World. This exquisite film is certainly not for everyone, but its intended audience will love it. I did.

Critics tend to be analytical people, and - like humorless individuals attempting to explain why a joke isn't funny - even the ones who praise this picture seem to be missing the point by a province or two. In dreams all things are possible and the unreasonable is reasonable. One does not dictate to a dream, one follows it in awe and rapture. In dreams it is quite normal for a man to carry the heart of his dead son with him everywhere in a bottle. In dreams, Marlene Dietrich-esque beauties hold court poised on glass legs filled with beer.

Certain performances deserve mention. Rossellini, always good, is exceptionally good here. Maria de Medeiros as Narcissa is quite unnerving, really powerful. But the sleeper performance is by David Fox as Fyodor Kent, the demented cellist. His character is from off the map, in all respects, and yet he has intense credibility throughout.

But. The hero of The Saddest Music In The World in director Guy Maddin, not to mention the set designers, costume designers, prop men and women, and especially cinematographers around him. This is a very funny, deeply absurd movie with layer upon layer of irony, silliness, homage, and self-referential humor. But what it is most is a feast, even an orgy, for the eyes - no small trick given that it's in B&W except for a few brief moments when it slips, again, dream-like, into color. Not a film to analyze, just surrender to it. You never saw a "battle of the bands" quite like this. January 28, 2008

Thoughts on the Maddin universe.....

I recently saw this again on IFC, and I have to admit, I don't really like it as much as I thought I did. Guy Maddin is a Canadian filmmaker who has one of the most unique visual styles today. He shoots his films in a deliberate "silent film" style (with iris shot and hand tinted frames) which is fascinating to watch. Unfortunately, his films (especially this one) are all style and very little substance. For a bit, I watched some of this film with the sound off, and it was better that way. Once you get past his very fascinating and at times overwhelming technique, there really isn't much there. He seems to be mocking his characters and the smarmy dialogue and performances seem to confirm this. The story here is quite unique (it's a contest to create the saddest music in the world). To me, that story has endless possibilities. Sadly, it feels like Maddin doesn't really have any feeling for the people of the depression. It was not a particularly great time to be living in. Maddin treats them kind of like a joke, which I don't agree with and it detracts from the initial storyline.

My favorite film of his is, surprisingly, his short film The Heart of the World (which is available on the Twilight of the Ice Nymphs/Archangel DVD), which is a wicked parody of Soviet silent films. The story of that film is silly and shallow (boy meets girl kind of stuff), but the film is only 30 minutes long or so, so it works very well in that type of format. Another great short film of Guy's is Sissy Boy Slap Party (included on this DVD as a bonus) which is hilarious and actually better than the feature. I think Guy is talented and certainly unique. His style seems more suited to short films than to feature length ones.

Personally, I believe people should see at least one of his films just to take in the look of them. He's not a horrible filmmaker, just too flashy for me. November 24, 2007

Sorrowful Revelry

This movie does not use surrealism. There is no contradictions of time and location. There is no acting out of dreams. It only feels surreal. This movie is Satanic, not surreal. It feels surreal because of some stylistic decisions the director made, but primarily because of the contradictory and opposite emotions associated with all of the suffering and torment that the characters experience. When tragedy strikes instead of sadness, regret and compassion, there is laughter, glee and revelry. This movie is philosophically Satanic. It embraces the torment of others: when the fires are burning up everything and everyone runs for their lives in horror, the star is rejoicing and explicitly professing his extreme happiness and just soaking it all in. There is even a cameo of Lucifer laughing at it all. It embraces suicide. It laughs at the pain of others. Betrayal is not denigrated. Promises mean nothing. This is not a "dark comedy"; it is just plain dark and twisted. Wash up after watching this sick thing. October 30, 2007

Truly bizarre and strange but perfectly artistic and compelling...

This may, quite frankly, be the strangest movie in the world but it works so well in all its utter weirdness that I have to rave this film to its very core. Coming across as an old silent film, choppy and filmed in black and white, `The Saddest Music in the World' is one of the most artistic and genius films I've seen in quite a long time. I am new to the world of Guy Madden so maybe this style isn't new to any long standing fan but I for one had no idea what to expect when I sat down to witness this creative masterpiece, but I will admit that at the first glimpse of the grainy footage I was instantaneously absorbed in the film.

The film has a very interesting plot, absurd as many have noted, but interesting none-the-less. Taking place in the midst of the Great Depression in the city of Winnipeg `The Saddest Music in the World' covers a competition held by an amputee beer baroness to find just that, the saddest music in the world. She encourages the countries of the world to compete in their sorrow to ultimately win a cash prize of $25,000. This peeks the curiosity of many but most notably a father and his two sons who have a special connection to the baroness Lady Helen Port-Huntley. First is Chester Kent, a man who had at one time been involved with Lady Helen while his father Fyodor loved her. The clash between father and son over this woman is what ultimately cost her both of her legs. Chester has since moved on but Fyodor continues to harbor love and devotion for Lady Helen. Next comes Chester's brother Roderick who loathes his brother for various reasons but is suffering from the loss of his son and the disappearance of his wife on top of family resentment. Father and two sons enter the contest on apposing sides.

The underlying implications of `The Saddest Music in the World' are deep, much deeper than one may expect upon initial reaction to the brand of satire presented. The main character of Chester Kent is incapable of sadness. He is the happiest man alive so-to-speak and this becomes a central idea or issue raised throughout the film. His lack of emotional feeling allows him to destroy his relationships because he cannot feel the pain of rejection of circumstance. He has no reservations of hesitations about sleeping with the woman his father loves, nor does he care when it becomes known to him that the strange woman he is now involved with just may be his brothers long lost wife. In the opening scenes Chester is speaking with a fortune teller who informs him of his fate based on his inability to feel sadness. This theory is one that we do well to contemplate.

Sadness is an attribute that makes us human, it makes us individuals and shapes our values and morals and ultimately the person we will become. When ironing out the differences between those who love more and those who love less it's usually determined by their ability to feel the pain of the unloving. If someone has grown callus to feeling in that they cannot feel the emotional pain of loss then they are less likely to extend love and consideration but the individual who fears the loss of fellow feeling is more likely to extend kindness and sincere hospitality to others in their lives.

The film also exposes the common trait of forced sadness and in contrast the rare expressions of genuine or authentic grief or despair. All too often sadness is dramatized in order to receive sympathy from others but real sadness is a rare attribute we all do well to attain and cultivate.

On the outset `The Saddest Music in the World' may not appear to be that deep of a `message' film but when one digs a little deeper they can see its purpose.

The acting is phenomenal here. The hysterics and over the top theatrical expressions help capture the era Guy Madden sought after and helps establish an artistic mood and setting for the picture. Mark McKinney is exceptionally good here, hamming it up for the camera while still maintaining the earnestness his character requires. Isabella Rossellini though is the star here. Her portrayal of Lady Helen Port-Huntley is effortless and downright brilliant. David Fox is wonderful as Fyodor and Ross McMillan captures the pain and devastation of Roderick's character masterfully. Maria de Medeiros is stunning as Narcissa the strange young girl who may or may not be Roderick's bride.

In the end this bizarre film is a genuine masterpiece if I ever saw one and is worth its weight. I highly recommend this film, but I warn you to watch this with an open mind for this is not your typical entertainment. This is deep and meaningful, but its importance is glossed over with outrageous theatrics so one must be willing to examine each and every frame to find its inner beauty. October 30, 2007

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