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It seems rare in the film world, so perpetually concerned with technology and its advancements, with everything from CGI monsters six stories high to digitally added teardrops, that one should come across a film whose style doesn’t look forward but rather backward. Yet this is exactly what Guy Maddin’s 2003 comedy-fantasy and former Ebertfest selection, The Saddest Music in the World, does. The film seems to draw its main inspiration neither from the future nor the golden era of Hollywood but back from silent films. Telling the story of legless beer baroness Lady Port-Huntley’s (Isabella Rossellini) contest that seeks to find exactly what the title suggests, the saddest music in the world, the film is set in the 1920s and is suffused with a grainy and gritty quality that seems to try to mimic the imperfections of the silent films made at just that time.
It is not merely the quality or style of the film that is meant to reflect the time period in which it takes place, however. The style goes beyond that to draw upon the surrealist films of the ’20s to create an odd and often hilarious sense of fantasy, dreaminess and the absurd. Beneath the plot’s relatively simple surface story of an odd musical contest lies a tale of betrayal, love and desperation. Chester Kent, hilariously played by Mark McKinney of Kids in the Hall, finds himself fighting for both his girlfriend, Narcissa, who happens to be his brother’s ex-wife and home to a talking tapeworm, as well as Lady Port-Huntley herself, whose leglessness was caused by his own father’s drunken lovelorn rage, all while trying to win the contest and its fantastic prize money.
This very absurdity and the way it contains a lovely tenderness underneath is what separates The Saddest Music in the World from so many other films made today. Its dream-like stupor is able to incite both laughter and sadness, encouraging the viewers to find themselves utterly swept up in the universe Maddin has created. Ultimately, The Saddest Music in the World stands as an enjoyable venture into the surreal and as a beacon of originality in a sea of remakes.
Sound Off
Last post: Apr. 26, 2009 at 10:34 am
Sarah (unregistered user) said on Apr. 24, 2009 at 1:48 pm:
No. I'm not a liar. I like Guy Maddin. I liked this movie. I liked "My Winnipeg" and I liked "Brand Upon the Brain." But thanks for sharing your opinion.
LoFiSciFi (LoFi SciFi) said on Apr. 25, 2009 at 9:51 am:
Sarah,
I found an even worse movie. Last night I watched "Henry Poole is Here"... I knew I was in trouble when I saw Mark Pellington was the director... Have you seen this one? Talk about heavy handed...
Sarah (unregistered user) said on Apr. 25, 2009 at 11:50 am:
No, I haven't seen that one though at least it sounds like I'm not missing much. I think it's one of those films where I've stared at the box in the video store numerous times, but I've never actually gotten to the part where I want to pick it up. haha
Though, to get back to Guy Maddin for a second, if you haven't seen his other films I would say to try "My Winnipeg." It's pretty cohesive and kind of hilarious when you consider it's supposed to be a documentary. But, if you're hoping he'll have toned down all that gritty black-and-white camerawork and the weird surrealist qualities, maaaaybe you should skip it after all...
Leslie (unregistered user) said on Apr. 26, 2009 at 10:34 am:
Haha, pretentious. I hear that!
LoFiSciFi (LoFi SciFi) said on Apr. 23, 2009 at 3:06 pm:
I'm sorry to say this; especially given the fact that I love odd movies, especially those of the Lo-Fi or B-movie flare. I've seen plenty and loved plenty of "artsy fartsy" movies in my days, but "The Saddest Music in the World" is a huge turd of a movie.
Just because the movie looks cool and weird, and just because it has an awesome class including a member of "The Kids in the Hall" doesn't mean it's a movie worth watching. This movie is pretentious bull crap, and if you say you liked this movie then you are a liar because this movie is garbage and deep down you know it.
The story is lame, the acting is lame, and the visuals make me want to do drugs and not in that good way that movies like "Adaptation", "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", anything by Kubrick or even "Moulin Rouge" did for that fact.
Yes I'm bitter. I wanted to like this hunk of moldy cheese so bad, but it was impossible. UHF, best movie ever???