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"If you are sad and you like beer, then I'm your movie"

Written By: C. CRADDOCK

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Chester Kent: Idealism and business rarely mix.
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I bought this DVD at Big Lots for $3. The film was made on a budget of $3,500,000. I think it was a great deal, but some people may have been disappointed. They see the title, The Saddest Music in the World, starring Isabella Rossellini, who is a classy broad, and they see that it is about a contest to find the saddest music in the world. They envision a serious endeavor to seek out the truly saddest music in the world, and examine why it is that the saddest song can be the best song. What about that song, Gloomy Sunday that Billie Holiday sang? I hear that song was blamed for several suicides. How about Joy Division? The Smiths? Maybe find the best Emo Shoe Gazer band, from a depressing place like Manchester, or how about Winnipeg? The coldest and saddest city in the world?

That sounds like a great movie, but it is not the movie they will get if they watch this film. Instead they will get a comedy about sadness. Kind of a dark comedy, but they will not get the jokes. I loved this movie, and if that makes me weird, then so be it.

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Chester Kent: Why bother with shame at all is my philosophy.
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Filmed in the far Northern Canadian city of Winnipeg, one of the bleakest, coldest, cities in the entire world, it was filmed in black & white, and is kind of a parody of silent films, or at least the really early films, the talkies, that had just incorporated sound technology into the mix. The kind of film Lon Chaney made--especially the ones where he would play an armless beggar or some such, requiring him to contort himself into impossible postures. Isabella plays Lady Helen Port-Huntley, and though she is making a mint as the baroness of beer--especially since she is right over the border from the U.S. where Prohibition and The Great Depression are in order, she still has plenty to be sad about.

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Lady Port-Huntley: If you are sad and like beer, I'm your lady.
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She is missing both legs due to a freakish accident. Though Fyodor Kent (David Fox) is hopelessly smitten with her, she is carrying on a torrid affair with his son, Chester Kent (Mark McKinney). Chester is at the wheel, and so distracted by her carrying on he doesn't see his father trying to flag them down. Chester swerves, and then skids in the snow. The grotesque accident would really be tragic were it not so over the top that it seems like it is really just a big put on. You expect to see Ashton Kutcher emerge from behind a snowman to tell you that you've been punked. I started to warm up to this off beat comedy, and by the time they got to Fyodor's "beer legs" it had me.

There is a contest to find the saddest music in this film, and there is some very interesting music from all over the world. There is a quite sad arrangement of "The Song is You," for cello, played by Chester's brother Roderick Kent, alias Gravillo the Great. "The Song is You" by Jerome Kern was a favorite of Frank Sinatra, and also musicians love it because the bridge, through a series of subterfuges manages to modulate a half step below the original key, and then when the main theme is reprised, it is like you are rising up, but you are really right back where you started. It is kind of an audio illusion, similar to the picture of the monks climbing the endless stairs at the top of the tower in that wood block print by M.C. Escher. But I digress.

The two brothers, Chester and Roderick Kent, are quite different. While Chester is a brash impresario who exemplifies the crass American approach to show biz, Roderick is an extremely sensitive soul. How sensitive is something I can't even begin to describe--you really have to see the film. The performances of Mark McKinney and Ross McMillan as Chester and Roderick, respectively, are really superb. They both hit the perfect tones--and though those tones are completely opposite, they somehow manage to magically harmonize. David Fox, as Fyodor, their father, is also worthy of mention. And don't let me forget Teddy (Darcy Fehr), Lady Helen Port-Huntley's ever accommodating manservant, or Narcissa (Maria de Medeiros), the oblivious object of Roderick's tortured desire.

Getting back to the contest, there is some great music, but it is all undercut by the competitive contest atmosphere. A loud and annoying buzzer goes off repeatedly whenever the judges start to get bored--which is often. Two announcers--Duncan Elksworth (Claude Dorge) and Mary (Talia Pura)--talk over the music, making inane comments, like sportscasters. It is really a great parody of the whole notion of American Idol style singing contests.

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Mary: No one can beat the Siamese when it comes to dignity, cats, or twins.
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So, I hope I have been "helpful" with this review, and though I really loved this film, it is not for everyone, and those Philistines who wouldn't appreciate this sort of billingsgate, and you know who you are--should avoid it like the plague.

Mark McKinney ... Chester Kent
A Night at the Roxbury (1998) .... Father Williams
Dog Park (1998) .... Dr. Cavan, Dog Psychologist
... aka Rserv aux chiens (Canada: French title)
The Last Days of Disco (1998) .... Rex
Spice World (1997) .... Graydon

Isabella Rossellini ... Lady Helen Port-Huntley
Wild At Heart (1990) .... Perdita Durango
Cousins (1989) .... Maria Hardy
... aka A Touch of Infidelity (Europe: English title)
Siesta (1987) .... Marie
Tough Guys Don't Dance (1987) .... Madeleine Regency
Blue Velvet (1986) .... Dorothy Vallens

Maria de Medeiros ... Narcissa
Mon³gamo sucesivo (2005)
Stranded: NĦufragos (2002) .... Jenny Johnson
Sudor de los ruiseħores, El (1998) .... Goyita
Pulp Fiction (1994) .... Fabienne
Henry & June (1990) .... AnaŻs Nin

Darcy Fehr ... Teddy
Walk All Over Me (2007) .... Scarred Man
Juliana and the Medicine Fish (2007) .... Real Estate Investor
Blue State (2007) .... US Border Guard
Odin's Shield Maiden (2007)
The Good Life (2007) .... Friend #2
Appassionata: The Extraordinary Life & Music of Sonia Eckhardt-Gramatt (2006) .... Walter Gramatt
Mr. Soul (2006) .... Officer Pearce
Category 7: The End of the World (2005) (TV) .... Black Mask Leader
Cannibalism: A New Taste in Style (2004) .... Bill Dude/Freddie Finklepuss
On Thin Ice (2003) (TV) .... Spider
Cowards Bend the Knee or The Blue Hands (2003) .... Guy Maddin
Inside the Osmonds (2001) (TV) .... Engineer #1
The Law of Enclosures (2000) .... Young Miller
Desire (2000) .... Mr. Fergus
... aka Begierde (Germany: TV title)
... aka Fatale Sehnsucht (Germany)
Milgaard (1999) (TV) .... Chris Milgaard
... aka Erreur judiciaire: l'histoire de David Milgaard (Canada: French title)
Hospital Fragment (1999) .... Male Lead
The Cock Crew (1998) .... Ari

"THE ART OF SADNESS"

Written By: Geary A., Jones

THE SADDEST MOVIE IN THE WORLD is a zany piece of fractured surrealism; an ecstatic parody of Freudian fluff. Director, Guy Madden presents pain ( both physical, and spiritual ) as a source of humor, and serves up an eccentrically, twisted group of characters that manage to give the word 'dysfunctional' new meaning.

The story goes like this: a rich, sadistic beer baroness, Lady Port-Huntly ( wonderfully played by Isabella Rosellini ) creates an international music contest for 'The Saddest Music In The World,' during the middle of the Great Depression to be held in Winnepeg, Canada, with a prize of $25,000.00 ( a fortune in those days ). Two of her former lovers ( both of whom, she holds responsible for the loss of her legs ) enter. Dr. Fyodor Kent represents Canada, and Chester ( Mark McKinney ), his son ( who cuckolded Fyodor with the baroness years before ) represents the U.S. with his present girlfriend, Narcissa, an amnesiac, and nymphomaniac ( Maria de Madeiros ). Serbia is represented by Chester's estranged brother, Roderick ( Ross McMillan ) whose long-lost wife just happens to be Narcissa.

This film is wonderfully shot with mostly handheld cameras, and filters. A good portion of it is black, and white. The sets are stark, dark, and gloomy, but the overall feel is magically delicious.

"A Touch of the Absurd in Kafkaesque Brilliance"

Written By: Carolyn Smagalski

In classic Film Noir style, Guy Maddin directs The Saddest Music in the World, set in Winnipeg, Manitoba, (1933) during the depths of the Great Depression. Maddin, in collaboration with George Toles, sets the mood with an astute level of cinematography, employing old-fashioned iris lens techniques to create the antique, distressed look of a Golden-age movie-screen, using grainy blues and silvers to invoke moods of emotional intensity. He skillfully manipulates stark camera angles and chiaroscuro to accent light and shadowy effects, while highlighting exuberance and humor with unconventional music and dialogue.

Isabella Rossellini plays the role of the clever and tragic Lady Helen Port-Hunsley, a wealthy Canadian beer baroness who launches a world competition seeking the most melancholy music on the globe, as she endeavors to dramatically increase beer sales at the tail end of America's failed experiment of Prohibition. The purse is a huge twenty-five-thousand-dollar award that brings forth competitors from as far away as Scotland, Serbia and Siam. The main protagonist in the film emerges as the cynical Chester Kent (Mark McKinney), in contention with his brother, Roderick as Gavrillo the Great, and others in this great rivalry, where winners in each round slide into a giant vat of beer.

Twists and turns of emotion fill the plot, pulling you from humor to tragedy within a framework of grandeur and the absurd. As bygone secrets unravel, Fyodor, father of Chester and Roderick, attempts to exonerate his past guilt by fashioning glass legs filled with beer for Helen, his former lover, and the victim of an accidental amputation.

For those who appreciate imagination and avant-garde expressionism, Saddest Music is nourishment for the senses.

"Solid"

Written By: Cosmoetica

Guy Maddin is a filmmaker I've heard alot of. Not good, not bad, but weird. So, it is no surprise that his hundred minute long 2004 film The Saddest Music In The World is not good, not bad, simply weird. Visually, however, it's a truly brilliant work, with color freely mixing with black and white, on contrived sets that evoke German Expressionism from the 1920s, and with Vaseline smeared on the lenses to give it a softer look. It also has a grainier feel in some sections, and reputedly was shot on 8mm film, then blown up to make it even grainier looking, as if it was just uncovered from some old studio's vault. The only other recent film that I've seen that invokes such a different place, time, and worldview was Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow, which was also set in the 1930s. However, whereas that film was an homage to the classic serials and set in New York City, and global vista, and shot all on blue screen, this film is set in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in Canada, and the world comes to Winnipeg, which has been chosen by the London Times as the world capital of sorrow, four years running.
Reputedly, the film is based upon a screenplay by the highly regarded novelist Kazuo Ishiguro (most famous for The Remains Of The Day) which Maddin and co-writer George Toles added their own idiosyncratic spin to. The plot is rather thin, and follows a legless and blondly bewigged beer baroness, Lady Port-Huntly (Isabella Rossellini), who decides to capitalize on the impending revocation of Prohibition in America top make a killing. She decides to hold a musical contest to determine the saddest music in the world, and offers a prize of $25,000.
Overall, The Saddest Music In The World is one of those films that I am loath to comment too harshly on. This is because while it fails, overall, as a film, one cannot help but admire the daring and vision of a director like Maddin. After all, in this dumbed down cookie cutter world of film put forth by megabucks Hollywood schlockmeisters like Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, and George Lucas, Maddin can easily and rightly be seen as a hero to arthouse, indy film lovers.
However, none of that concerns me as a critic. So, I have to say that, despite some razzle-dazzle, and the best of intentions, The Saddest Music In The World ultimately is not a good film. No, it's not a bad film, but one has to wonder what it might have been if the original Ishiguro screenplay had been more faithfully followed. Perhaps then it might have had some of the depth and real inquisitive power that great art has. As it is it is merely a curio. But, occasionally, them things can be damned flashy, can't they?

"The Greatest Movie in the World"

Written By: AssWord Ken

Yeah, I'm exaggerating. I just love this movie so much. Guy Maddin is a genious. You must check out this film. Mark McKinney is hilarious. Isabella Rosellini is fantastic. That weird girl from Pulp Fiction, wonderfully weird. The music stays with you and so does the sadness. Buy this movie!