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The Saddest Music in the World (2003)

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Last On

02:30-04:05 Sun 18th Jan 2009 95m
BBC2

Synopsis

Cult director Guy Maddin's love affair with German Expressionist styling continues in this beguiling musical drama set in snowbound Winnipeg during the Great Depression. Beautifully shot in black and white with occasional flashes of colour, the dream-like film blends fantasy and reality into an authentically atmospheric whole. In a wonderfully eccentric turn, a sternly enigmatic Isabella Rossellini plays a double amputee and brewery owner who launches a contest to find the world's most melancholy melody. What follows is a surreal carnival of love, betrayal and revenge, as a bizarre assortment of global entrants, among them her greed-fuelled ex (Mark McKinney) and his amnesiac girlfriend (Maria de Medeiros), battle for big bucks and a dip in a beer-filled pool. With its meticulously composed scenes and elaborate performances, the picture oozes artistic grandeur, lightened by a wicked streak of dark humour. Though Maddin's work remains too outlandish for mainstream appeal, his imagination deserves high praise.