The Saddest Music In The World Movie Review:


Based on a screenplay by Kazoo Ishiguro (Remains of the Day), then adapted in the by Canadian art-filmmaker Maddin, this unforgettably warped movie is a work of genius ... if you're looking for something way off the beaten track. It all kicks off when beer mogul Lady Port-Huntly (Rossellini) declares that her company is hosting a contest in Winnipeg--"chosen by the London Times as the worldwide capital of sorrow"--to find the world's saddest music. It's 1933 and the grand prize is enormous, so entrants arrive from all over the world, including three members of the Kent family, who all draw their grief from the death of their wife/mother: War veteran father Fyodor (Fox) is representing Canada; Broadway producer son Chester (McKinney) represents America with his girlfriend (de Medeiros), who gets advice from her tapeworm; and cellist son Roderick (McMillan) represents his adopted country of Serbia, where his son died and his wife went missing. All have strange links to the literally legless Lady Port-Huntley, who stands to make a fortune: "If you're sad and like beer, I'm your lady!"

This intriguing story is told in Maddin's inimitable style, with extremely grainy monochrome footage, sometimes hand-tinted or colourwashed. There are constant visual gimmicks, goofy back projection, B-movie sets and seriously camp performances. But he also manages to get to the heart of his characters, so if you can accept the bizarre approach, the twisted melodrama is surprisingly compelling and emotional. With undercurrents of tragedy and deep sadness, this feels like a David Lynch movie--visually, thematically and in the vicious black humour. Meanwhile, the competition is staged like a deranged Eurovision Song Contest, with a series of knockout battles after which the winner plunges into a pool of beer (while Americans listen via radio enviously--it's both the Great Depression and Prohibition). That the actors manage to find resonance amid this romantic-musical-comedy chaos is a minor miracle, but their complex interrelationships actually mean something. Each person must deal with powerful emotions--love, hate, jealousy, grief--as the battles escalate to all-out war. The film works on so many levels that it's hard to count them all. And if you're willing to enter its universe, it's absolutely wonderful.

Rich Cline

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