Kaffeine Buzz reviews independent and foreign films,
in addition to reporting the latest buzz behind Colorado's film festivals.

The Saddest Music In The World (Guy Maddin)

The finest and most entertaining movies for me are the kinds of movies that make you think and ponder your thoughts for days after you first watch them. After watching (Guy Maddins) The Saddest Music In The World numerous times I still ask myself. “What in the hell did I just experience?” and “Why was this one of the finest films I have seen this year?”

Before sitting down to put all of my thoughts on the computer for this review, so much was running through my head about what I could say about this film. In the end, I still wouldn't know where to begin but I will try.

The Saddest Music In The World takes place in Winnipeg during the Great Depression. The year is 1933 and a contest from the “Queen Of Beer” Lady Port-Huntly (Isabella Rossellini) is underway. This global competition puts country and against country to see who can create the saddest music in the world. The grand prize is a monstrous sum of $25,000. Which is especially grand during the Great Depression. Simple enough right? Sure it is. Up until this point I understand the movie completely. Its pretty cut and dry. There is a competition, a grand prize, and an interesting display of countries fighting it out with what they all feel is the saddest music in the world.

What comes next is what gets me. Its a scandalous reunion of the American Chester Kent (Mark McKinney) a self proclaimed producer, his gloomy Serbian brother Roderick (Ross McMillan), Rodericks runaway Serbian wife Narcissa (Maria de Medeiros), who is also Chesters girlfriend, and their Canadian alcoholic father who sobers up to create glass legs for the woman he loves Lady Port-Huntly. (He accidentally amputated her wrong leg after a car accident!)

After typing that, I myself want to watch this movie again just to figure this out. What I do know about The Saddest Music In The World is that I absolutely love the fact that I don’t know what to say about it.

If your itching for a head scratcher of a movie I would put The Saddest Music In The World at the top of your list. It is by for the most entertaining movie you will see all year, guaranteed.

www.ifcfilms.com

Go to www.starzfilmcenter.com for show times.

-by James Gardiner, June 10, 2004