WINNIPEG, 1933 THE DEPTHS OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION……..
Slippery haired Spatz wearing TV favourite Mark McKinney (Kids in the Hall ) plays Chester Kent America’s ambassador of sadness visiting his old flame and double amputee Isabella Rossellini (Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart ) who as the Beer Baroness Lady Port-Huntley has just put up a prize of $25,000 for the saddest music in the world. Before you can start humming along with Christopher Dedrick’s musical score we have a collection of mariachis to bag pipers (Winnipeg Heather-Belle Ladies Pipe Band no less), sitars to didgeridoos, flamenco dancers to thudding wild African drums being assembled for the up and coming cavalcade of despair. So now it’s time for the battle to commence duelling it out before the chilled audience of the Muskeg brewery. Everything from Chopin to 'Skip to my Lou' has an airing here and amnesiac Narcissa (Maria de Medeiros - Pulp Fiction, Henry & June ) sings ‘Swing Low Sweet Chariot’ like you have never heard before…. It’s an ethereal version of the Eurovision song contest !***image4:centre***
Maddin’s films have always had a dreamy theatre quality to his movies (‘Twilight of the Ice Nymphs’ for prime example of a filmic poem) and here again he utilises every inch of his stage using a variety of techniques and hand held cameras giving us grainy black and white and at times an over-saturated colour that the film itself is reminisiant of the era of German expressionist films of the 1920’s, on more than one occasion does 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari' crossed with Dali mixed with the Marx brothers spring to mind and even Hollywood's own 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' . It’s so strange that a movie with sadness and loss as its main themes is such a joy to watch and you want to jump into that frothy vat or beer along with the beaten contestants.
When de Medeiros says ‘I’ll just curl up here and take a nap’ it the middle of a frozen waste it does not seem out of place. Snow filled scapes with almost hidden buildings under the drifts, even the streetcar is only visable and can only be entered via it’s roof top, hinting that everything is just beneath the surface. The script is an absolute joy adding to the weirdness of the film, lines like ‘I’m not an American I’m a nymphomaniac’ and ‘sadness is just happiness turned on it’s ass’ are delivered deadpan and keep a wry smile on your face from start to finish. Written with George Toles based on an original screenplay by Kazuo Ishiguro (Remains of the Day ) with indie fav Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter, Exotica, The Adjuster ) acting as an executive producer comes forth Maddin’s most accessible movie to date and one that has cult written all over it.
Some scenes will stay with you long after your viewing. Every scene with veil wearing Maddin regular Ross McMilllan is a pure joy as over sensitive cello playing Roderick/Gavrillo keeping his son’s heart in a tear filled jar. Not every day do we see Rossellini standing atop a fizzing beer filled pair of glass legs and there is one scene in particular with waving legs in front of the amputeed Baroness is the stuff nightmares are made of.If that was not enough to get your juices going the DVD special features include an audio commentary by director Guy Maddin & main man Mark McKinney which is fun to listen to even going to the extent of discussing the hair and wigs and the blondeness of Rossellini showing signs of a family reflection of Ingrid Bergman and the problems of set painting at 40 degrees below zero. A making of in the shape of ‘Tear Drops in the Snow’ were we get a glimpse at Maddin’s world and see a variety of hand held cameras and locals being used to place Winnipeg firmly on the map as John Waters has done with Baltimore. It is here we actually learn that all the musicians are all from the Winnipeg Folk Arts Group ! Also included are three shorts; ‘Sissy-Boy Slap-Party’ is a homo erotic surreal slice of George Kuchar mixed with Todd Haynes. ‘Sombra Dolorosa’ & ‘A Trip to the Orphanage’ both seem very much like warped trailers for the forthcoming feature itself, even to the point of ending in the film’s title credit. Nine teaser and one Theatrical trailer end the special feature selection. All of which are accessed via lovely snow filled menus.
This film it is a complete blast for anyone that can penetrate it’s icy exterior and it's warmth will creep over every part of you. If the line ‘when I first saw you my tape worm said you’re a fortune teller’ makes you smirk in a Lynch sort of way then don’t wait any longer and slip this into your machine.'The Saddest Music in the World' is out to own now in the US and available via
Amazon and will be available for UK release in June 2005 via
AmazonUK .
You can read more about the DVD in our database .
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