Rent The Saddest Music in the World (2003)

Dirges, Draughts, and Delicate Legs - The Saddest Music in the World review by griggs

A beer baroness in Depression-era Winnipeg hosts a contest to find the saddest music in the world, drawing in a cast of eccentrics from across the globe. On paper, it’s the sort of high-concept oddity that could soar. In practice, The Saddest Music in the World is the usual Guy Maddin cocktail — clever camera trickery, jittery editing, and faux-vintage textures — without the sound design to match. The result is a world that looks like an old film reel but sounds like it was recorded yesterday, breaking the illusion before it settles.

There’s a certain novelty to Maddin’s visual inventiveness, and Isabella Rossellini does her best to ground the absurdity, but the story is more self-consciously quirky than genuinely affecting. The emotional core gets buried under stylistic gimmicks, and the jokes rarely land with more than a polite smile. For Maddin devotees, it’s another curio; for the rest of us, it’s all surface, no soul.

typical Canadian fare . . . but on acid - The Saddest Music in the World review by CP Customer

While crictically acclaimed in some circles this 'art house' flick has all the usual features of a Canadian film. Lots of funerals and snow and a plot line that leaves you depressed by the time the film's finished.

The film also has some additional unique features: the plot is convoluted and absurd and it pretends to be a 30s flick, not just a film based in the 30s.

Definitely the worst Canadian film I've ever watched.

My Mother and I stuck it out to the bitter end but I think only because we felt we owed to a fellow Canuck. My British Father had no such qualms and found something else to do in the opposite side of the house within about 10 min.