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The Saddest Music in the World (2003)

The Saddest Music in the World (2003)

R

The world’s weirdest music competition is family feud fodder in this strange, satirical musical

7.0

Movie

Canada
English, Spanish
Comedy, Drama, Music
2003
GUY MADDIN
David Fox, Isabella Rossellini, Maria de Medeiros
101 min

TLDR

The other contestants might want to find a family therapist.

What it's about

Winnipeg, Canada, 1933. Amputee beer baroness Lady Port-Huntley organizes a competition offering $25,000 to the person who can compose the saddest music in the world.

The take

Music competitions aren’t really new, but usually, the goal is to find the best performers in exchange for a cash prize and a chance to make even more great music. The Saddest Music in the World is an eccentric choice to base a competition on, especially during the Great Depression and Prohibition era happening all at once, and it gets even weirder in as a film in the hands of writer-director Guy Maddin, as a beer baroness transforms it into a cultural Olympics hijacked by a strange family who should probably go to therapy for their dual love triangles. Fans of old black-and-white films would love the classic vignette and grain, but rather than wax nostalgically about the past, The Saddest Music in the World takes a more bizarre, ridiculous route on talking tapeworms and literal beer legs.

What stands out

The way the film satirizes the idea of oppression olympics by having three men make it all about them. Sorry, Serbia.

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