ackstasis This was my first film from Guy Maddin, a Canadian director well-known for doing his own thing. Most of his films, I hear, recreate the look and feel of 1920s silent cinema and early talkies – 'The Saddest Music in the World (2003)' is no exception. Not only is the film set in Depression-era Winnipeg, but it actually looks as though it was shot around that time. Maddin shoots his film on washed-out and grainy Super 8 film blown up to 35mm, uses irises and other outdated storytelling techniques, badly-synchronised audio, and lots of Soviet-style montage. Several scenes are shot in colour – and they jar strikingly, like the dream sequence in 'Shock Corridor (1963)' – to imitate the aesthetic of early two-strip Technicolor. Even the use of Isabella Rossellini is a stroke of anachronistic genius: at times you're fooled into thinking that Ingrid Bergman is on screen.The story is bizarre to say the least. A Canadian beer company, under the instruction of baroness Lady Port-Huntley (Rossellini) (who lost her legs in unfortunate circumstances), holds a competition to discover the "saddest music in the world." Competitors arrive from every country to vie for the $25,000 prize, including a smug washed-up Broadway producer (Mark McKinney, of 'Kids in the Hall' fame); his cellist brother (Ross McMillan), a hypochondriac nursing a broken heart (quite literally); and their father (David Fox), an alcoholic war veteran who is in love with Lady Port-Huntley. Not bizarre enough, you say? Well, Lady Port-Huntley gets herself a new pair of legs, made entirely out of glass and beer. As you do. This film is perverse, surreal, and extremely wacky; you can't deny that Maddin's got a quirky sense of humour. I don't know exactly what to make of it, but I didn't mind it.

whpratt1 Had no idea just what I was in for when I purchased this film and all of a sudden I was back in the depression days of the 1920's and 1930's drinking beer by the gallons in Canada. The actors all gave an outstanding performance and one woman had her leg amputated and still managed to make love to any gentleman who so desired. There is a beer baroness who organized a contest to find the saddest music in the world with a contest prize of @25,000 and there were many groups who competed in this crazy contest.Despite the fact that this film is depicting the Depression Days, there is some dark comedy and a musical melodrama by the famous director, Guy Maddin. There is also amnesiac nymphomaniac who is exposed and more hidden dark secrets that beer will never solve in Winnipeg, Canada. Enjoy, if you like this type of film.

Claudio Carvalho In 1933, in Winnipeg during the American Great Depression, the legless baroness of beer industry, Lady Helen Port-Huntley (Isabella Rossellini), promotes a contest to choose the saddest music in the world and find where the real drinkers are. People come from all parts of the world, including her former lover Chester Kent (Marc McKinney) representing USA with the nymphomaniac amnesic Narcissa (Maria de Medeiros); his brother, who misses his dead son and his vanishing wife, Roderick Kent / Gravillo the Great (Ross McMillan), representing Serbia; and his father and the man who sever her legs in a car accident, Fyodor Kent (David Fox). During the competition, Roderick finds his missing wife."The Saddest Music in the World" is certainly one, if not the most, of the weirdest movie I have ever seen. This is the first work of the Canadian director Guy Maddin that I have watched and I found this flick really bizarre. In an atmosphere of nightmare, the surreal story uses the approach of the dramatic "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" but like a dark comedy instead. The cast and the cinematography are excellent, but I did not like this very unconventional and grotesque story. My vote is five.Title (Brazil): Not Available

ludovic391 I've just seen the movie at the "festival international du film de la Rochelle" in France, and I must say that this was a marvelous moment, this was the most surprising and exciting film I've seen during all the festival, though I had seen wonderful films as Blood and bones, Free Zone or My summer of love. I ain't gonna talk about the perfect work with the image, the shining white and black, or the technical performance. What is excellent is that all serves the unbelievable atmosphere of a dark and ironic fairy tale about alcoholism and human sadness. You enter into this strange world, there could be a strong and serious topic, but you only laugh but also feel more concerned, because as it's said in the film, sadness is often a fake so you understand better the feelings of the characters by laughing at their sadness. As the noisy ring that cut off the musicians performance, your laugh prevent you from being solemn, to join this soon mythic beer party. And you're still boozed after this film....