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The Saddest Music in the World (2003)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
1 September 2005 (Greece) moreTagline:
"If you're sad, and like beer, I'm your lady."Plot:
A sort-of musical set in Winnipeg during the Great Depression, where a beer baroness organizes a contest to find the saddest music in the world. Musicians from around the world descend on the city to try and win first place - a $25,000 prize. full summary | full synopsisAwards:
6 wins & 5 nominations moreNewsDesk:
Toronto Film Critics Name Guy Maddin’s My Winnipeg The Best Canadian Feature Of 2008!(From Twitch. 7 January 2009, 9:04 AM, PST)
User Comments:
How the world ignores sadness moreCast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Mark McKinney | ... | Chester Kent | |
| Isabella Rossellini | ... | Lady Helen Port-Huntley | |
| Maria de Medeiros | ... | Narcissa | |
| David Fox | ... | Fyodor Kent | |
| Ross McMillan | ... | Roderick Kent / Gravillo the Great | |
| Louis Negin | ... | Blind Seer | |
| Darcy Fehr | ... | Teddy | |
| Claude Dorge | ... | Duncan Elksworth | |
| Talia Pura | ... | Mary | |
| Jeff Sutton | ... | Young Chester | |
| Graeme Valentin | ... | Young Roderick | |
| Maggie Nagle | ... | Chester's Mother | |
| Victor Cowie | ... | Man in Bar | |
| Jessica Burleson | ... | Lady's Secretary | |
| Wayne Nicklas | ... | Boardmember |
Additional Details
MPAA:
Rated R for some sexuality and violent images.Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parentsRuntime:
100 minCountry:
CanadaLanguage:
EnglishAspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 moreSound Mix:
Dolby DigitalCertification:
Australia:M | Hong Kong:IIB | France:U | Portugal:M/12 | Argentina:13 | Canada:PG | Finland:K-15 | Singapore:NC-16 | UK:15 | USA:RFun Stuff
Soundtrack:
The Red Maple Leaves - Salon Version moreFAQ
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--Minor Spoilers Ahead-- The Saddest Music in the World plays out more like a short story than a film. It presents two opposed views of looking at loss. One view, espoused by the Chester Kent character, is oblivious of the past, and of the grief that is there. His songs are raucous renderings. His brother, Roderick Kent (aka Gravillo the Great) spends his entire time wallowing in the admittedly horrible past of the death of his son and his wife's abandonment. Both brothers lie about their nationality and are heralded falsely as representative of their assumed countries. Both are, in a word, fakers. Both exaggerate their characteristics they feel represent them, and all the other characters in the film are forced to take sides. However, neither of the brothers is realistic in their extremity, and thusly the script feels more like a parable than a film. However, in a world focused on the consolidation and amalgamation of culture, this film is all the more intriguing for how immensely it avoids cultural integration in favor of assimilation. Questions of assimilation to a country or ideals are seemingly posed openly, in a manner that is not often found in the 'integrationist' model of the western world. When asked of the film, Ishiguro said that he intended the story he wrote to speak of the plight of displaced and ravaged persons of the world needing to continually, more deeply, horrify the world with their struggles. For instance, having Darfurians create a sadder music than Rwandans. Arundhati Roy struck a similar chord when she said, "Inhabitants standing in the remnants of their flooded villages, protesting big dams, no longer make the news. The public is tired of seeing that one." And after the first act, where the film hints at the deeper issues, it abandons them to concentrate on the dramatic arc of the two main characters, at times admirably. Indeed, textually, it is admirable for its ambition. Few films in recent times have asked these sorts of questions so brazenly about how one deals with the past, and how grief is displayed (or portrayed) to a person or an audience. Even there though, the film is more ponderous than moving, more literary than cinematic and more intriguing than stunning.