Guy Maddin’s sophomore feature, Archangel, takes place in a fantastical crossroads of history, in a hamlet in Russia so remote that the twin shocks of World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution have only just reached town limits in 1919. Its plot—of a love triangle between a traumatized WWI veteran (Kyle McCulloch), the woman (Kathy Marykuca) he believes is his dead wife, and her own amnesiac husband (Ari Cohen)—offers something of a précis of narrative tropes and themes that would pervade Maddin’s cinema. There’s the juxtaposition of archaic film form with more risqué sexual exhibition, the slipperiness of memory, and a notion of projection heavily indebted to Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo.
Nonetheless, Archangel feels more like a repository of references to the cinema of a hundred years ago than something fully imbued with Maddin’s signature idiosyncrasy. Verohnka, for one, habitually wears a spiky, chintzy crown...
Nonetheless, Archangel feels more like a repository of references to the cinema of a hundred years ago than something fully imbued with Maddin’s signature idiosyncrasy. Verohnka, for one, habitually wears a spiky, chintzy crown...
- 3/11/2024
- by Jake Cole
- Slant Magazine
On Friday nights, IndieWire After Dark takes a feature-length beat to honor fringe cinema in the streaming age.
First, the spoiler-free pitch for one editor’s midnight movie pick — something weird and wonderful from any age of film that deserves our memorializing.
Then, the spoiler-filled aftermath as experienced by the unwitting editor attacked by this week’s recommendation.
The Pitch: Can You Spoil Something This Surreal?
Few experiences surpass stumbling onto a jaw-dropping moment in film totally unspoiled. The big twist in “One Cut of the Dead.” The Fern Mayo reveal in “Jawbreaker.” Top to bottom, every second of “Titane.” These are scenes across varying genres and eras that live in my bones as electric moments I didn’t expect to see, but that reminded me why I whole-heartedly love the movies when I did. Hence, this column’s spoiler-free/spoiler-filled bifurcation.
Guy Maddin’s “The Saddest Music in the World” contains one such moment,...
First, the spoiler-free pitch for one editor’s midnight movie pick — something weird and wonderful from any age of film that deserves our memorializing.
Then, the spoiler-filled aftermath as experienced by the unwitting editor attacked by this week’s recommendation.
The Pitch: Can You Spoil Something This Surreal?
Few experiences surpass stumbling onto a jaw-dropping moment in film totally unspoiled. The big twist in “One Cut of the Dead.” The Fern Mayo reveal in “Jawbreaker.” Top to bottom, every second of “Titane.” These are scenes across varying genres and eras that live in my bones as electric moments I didn’t expect to see, but that reminded me why I whole-heartedly love the movies when I did. Hence, this column’s spoiler-free/spoiler-filled bifurcation.
Guy Maddin’s “The Saddest Music in the World” contains one such moment,...
- 11/11/2023
- by Alison Foreman and Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveriesNEWSKornél Mundruczó's Jupiter's Moon, competing in the 70th Cannes Film FestivalIn case you missed it, the Cannes Film Festival has announced its Official Selection (the separate but simultaneous festivals of Directors' Fortnight and Critics' Week should reveal their lineup this week). Arnaud's Desplechin's Les fantômes d'Ismaël will open the event, with films in competition by Michael Haneke, Sofia Coppola, Bong Joon-ho, and the Safdie brothers. Hong Sang-soo has two films at the festival, Mathieu Amalric's Barbara will open the Un Certain Regard section (where a Kiyoshi Kurosawa alien film will be premiered), and films by Takashi Miike, Claude Lanzmann and Agnès Varda are scattered through other sections.Across the divide of cinema, many films by the legendary but too often under-distributed and under-seen filmmaking team of Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet will soon be much more widely available in the United States,...
- 4/19/2017
- MUBI
My Winnipeg
Directed by Guy Madden
Written by George Toles and Guy Madden
2007, Canada
Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Winnipeg. Where sleepwalkers roam the snow laden streets. Where gender seperation exists in public swimming holes. Where the Winnipeg Jets arena is a shrine to everything that matters. It will be difficult to forget the Winnipeg Guy Madden has envisioned in this documentary for his hometown.
Originally concieved as a simple documentary about his hometown of Winnipeg, My Winnipeg subverts the traditional form of documentaries. Inspired by his producer to create something that would go outside the limits typically imposed on city stories, Maddin uses this opportunity to create a new genre he called “docu-fantasia”. The story is about “Guy Maddin” (played here by Darcy Fehr) and his attempt to film his way out of Winnipeg. Traveling by train he believes the only way to get out of the frozen wasteland would be to...
Directed by Guy Madden
Written by George Toles and Guy Madden
2007, Canada
Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Winnipeg. Where sleepwalkers roam the snow laden streets. Where gender seperation exists in public swimming holes. Where the Winnipeg Jets arena is a shrine to everything that matters. It will be difficult to forget the Winnipeg Guy Madden has envisioned in this documentary for his hometown.
Originally concieved as a simple documentary about his hometown of Winnipeg, My Winnipeg subverts the traditional form of documentaries. Inspired by his producer to create something that would go outside the limits typically imposed on city stories, Maddin uses this opportunity to create a new genre he called “docu-fantasia”. The story is about “Guy Maddin” (played here by Darcy Fehr) and his attempt to film his way out of Winnipeg. Traveling by train he believes the only way to get out of the frozen wasteland would be to...
- 4/15/2015
- by Max Covill
- SoundOnSight
My Winnipeg
Written by Guy Maddin, George Toles
Directed by Guy Maddin
Canada, 2007
Since its release in 2007, a good deal of the conversation surrounding Guy Maddin’s My Winnipeg has been how exactly to define the film. Is it, as Maddin himself has dubbed the picture, a “docu-fantasia,” or is that not even accurate? During an interview between Maddin and critic Robert Enright, as part of the newly released Criterion Blu-ray, the two evoke a number of references in hopes of situating the film: Werner Herzog, melodrama, Chris Marker, city symphonies of the silent era, Fellini’s I Vitelloni. Yes, it is like these, but also not quite. An essay by Wayne Koestenbaum, also included with the disc, likewise alludes to everything from Hitchcock and James Joyce to Andy Warhol’s Blow Job and Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah. So what does it say about a film that can draw such parallels,...
Written by Guy Maddin, George Toles
Directed by Guy Maddin
Canada, 2007
Since its release in 2007, a good deal of the conversation surrounding Guy Maddin’s My Winnipeg has been how exactly to define the film. Is it, as Maddin himself has dubbed the picture, a “docu-fantasia,” or is that not even accurate? During an interview between Maddin and critic Robert Enright, as part of the newly released Criterion Blu-ray, the two evoke a number of references in hopes of situating the film: Werner Herzog, melodrama, Chris Marker, city symphonies of the silent era, Fellini’s I Vitelloni. Yes, it is like these, but also not quite. An essay by Wayne Koestenbaum, also included with the disc, likewise alludes to everything from Hitchcock and James Joyce to Andy Warhol’s Blow Job and Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah. So what does it say about a film that can draw such parallels,...
- 1/27/2015
- by Jeremy Carr
- SoundOnSight
Trailer and Poster for Keyhole, starring Jason Patric. Monterey Media's thriller/drama which was seen at last year's Toronto International Film Festival, finds theaters today. Guy Maddin helms from a script he wrote alongside George Toles. Also starring are Isabella Rossellini, Udo Kier, Brooke Palsson, David Wontner, Louis Negin, Kevin McDonald, Daniel Enright, Olivia Rameau, Tattiawna Jones, Johnny Chang and Darcy Fehr. In a house haunted with memories, gangster and father Ulysses Pick (Jason Patric) arrives home after a long absence tow-ing the body of a teenaged girl and a bound and gagged young man. His gang waits inside his house, having shot their way past police. There is friction in the ranks. Ulysses, however, is focused on one thing: journey-ing through the house, room by room, and reaching his wife Hyacinth (Isabella Rossellini) in her bedroom upstairs. The equilibrium of the house has been disturbed and his odyssey eventually becomes an emotional tour,...
- 4/6/2012
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Trailer and Poster for Keyhole, starring Jason Patric. Monterey Media's thriller/drama which was seen at last year's Toronto International Film Festival, finds theaters today. Guy Maddin helms from a script he wrote alongside George Toles. Also starring are Isabella Rossellini, Udo Kier, Brooke Palsson, David Wontner, Louis Negin, Kevin McDonald, Daniel Enright, Olivia Rameau, Tattiawna Jones, Johnny Chang and Darcy Fehr. In a house haunted with memories, gangster and father Ulysses Pick (Jason Patric) arrives home after a long absence tow-ing the body of a teenaged girl and a bound and gagged young man. His gang waits inside his house, having shot their way past police. There is friction in the ranks. Ulysses, however, is focused on one thing: journey-ing through the house, room by room, and reaching his wife Hyacinth (Isabella Rossellini) in her bedroom upstairs. The equilibrium of the house has been disturbed and his odyssey eventually becomes an emotional tour,...
- 4/6/2012
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Trailer and Poster for Keyhole, starring Jason Patric. Monterey Media's thriller/drama which was seen at last year's Toronto International Film Festival, finds theaters today. Guy Maddin helms from a script he wrote alongside George Toles. Also starring are Isabella Rossellini, Udo Kier, Brooke Palsson, David Wontner, Louis Negin, Kevin McDonald, Daniel Enright, Olivia Rameau, Tattiawna Jones, Johnny Chang and Darcy Fehr. In a house haunted with memories, gangster and father Ulysses Pick (Jason Patric) arrives home after a long absence tow-ing the body of a teenaged girl and a bound and gagged young man. His gang waits inside his house, having shot their way past police. There is friction in the ranks. Ulysses, however, is focused on one thing: journey-ing through the house, room by room, and reaching his wife Hyacinth (Isabella Rossellini) in her bedroom upstairs. The equilibrium of the house has been disturbed and his odyssey eventually becomes an emotional tour,...
- 4/6/2012
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Sound On Sight will once again be covering the SXSW Film Festival this year, making it our second time attending. 130 feature films will screen at the Austin, Texas fest taking place March 9-17, including 65 World Premieres, 17 North American Premieres and 10 U.S. Premieres. As previously announced, Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon’s The Cabin in the Woods will have the honours of opening the festival, and now they have released the full list of films – and it’s looking pretty amazing. Enjoy!
Narrative Feature Competition
This year’s 8 films were selected from 1,112 submissions. Each film is a World Premiere. Films screening in Narrative Feature Competition are:
Booster
Director/Screenwriter: Matt Ruskin
When Simon’s brother is arrested for armed robbery, he is asked to commit a string of similar crimes in an attempt to get his brother acquitted.
Cast: Nico Stone, Adam DuPaul, Seymour Cassel, Kristin Dougherty, Brian McGrail (World Premiere)
Eden
Director: Megan Griffiths,...
Narrative Feature Competition
This year’s 8 films were selected from 1,112 submissions. Each film is a World Premiere. Films screening in Narrative Feature Competition are:
Booster
Director/Screenwriter: Matt Ruskin
When Simon’s brother is arrested for armed robbery, he is asked to commit a string of similar crimes in an attempt to get his brother acquitted.
Cast: Nico Stone, Adam DuPaul, Seymour Cassel, Kristin Dougherty, Brian McGrail (World Premiere)
Eden
Director: Megan Griffiths,...
- 2/3/2012
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
The 2012 South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival runs March 9–17 in Austin, Texas, and now the full film program lineup has been announced. From a first glance at the list, it's pretty light on horror, but there are a few standouts.
In addition to the world premiere of Lionsgate’s The Cabin in the Woods as the Opening Night Film, which we already knew, here are the horror (and a few horror-ish or just very interesting sounding) highlights:
Killer Joe - Us Premiere
Director: William Friedkin | Screenwriter: Tracy Letts
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, Gina Gershon, Juno Temple, Thomas Haden Church
A garish, Southwestern tale - a violent black comedy about a desperate Texas debtor (Hirsch) who plots to kill his mother with help of his family (Haden Church, Gershon). They hire a crazy Dallas cop who moonlights as a contract killer (McConaughey) to do the job, but Killer Joe...
In addition to the world premiere of Lionsgate’s The Cabin in the Woods as the Opening Night Film, which we already knew, here are the horror (and a few horror-ish or just very interesting sounding) highlights:
Killer Joe - Us Premiere
Director: William Friedkin | Screenwriter: Tracy Letts
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, Gina Gershon, Juno Temple, Thomas Haden Church
A garish, Southwestern tale - a violent black comedy about a desperate Texas debtor (Hirsch) who plots to kill his mother with help of his family (Haden Church, Gershon). They hire a crazy Dallas cop who moonlights as a contract killer (McConaughey) to do the job, but Killer Joe...
- 2/2/2012
- by The Woman In Black
- DreadCentral.com
Iggy Pop and Debbie Harry, shot by Bob Gruen in 1977
Rock 'N' Roll Exposed: The Photography of Bob Gruen
screens as part of 24 Beats per Second
SXSW Film has just announced its features lineup for the 2012 edition, running March 9 through 17. We already knew that the Opening Night Film would be Drew Goddard's The Cabin in the Woods. For its Closing Night Film, the festival will host the world premiere of of Emmett Malloy’s documentary Big Easy Express (more below). The lineup, with descriptions from the festival:
Narrative Feature Competition
Booster
Director/Screenwriter: Matt Ruskin. When Simon’s brother is arrested for armed robbery, he is asked to commit a string of similar crimes in an attempt to get his brother acquitted. Cast: Nico Stone, Adam DuPaul, Seymour Cassel, Kristin Dougherty, Brian McGrail. (World Premiere)
Eden
Director: Megan Griffiths, Screenwriters: Richard B. Phillips, Megan Griffiths, Story by: Richard B. Phillips & Chong Kim.
Rock 'N' Roll Exposed: The Photography of Bob Gruen
screens as part of 24 Beats per Second
SXSW Film has just announced its features lineup for the 2012 edition, running March 9 through 17. We already knew that the Opening Night Film would be Drew Goddard's The Cabin in the Woods. For its Closing Night Film, the festival will host the world premiere of of Emmett Malloy’s documentary Big Easy Express (more below). The lineup, with descriptions from the festival:
Narrative Feature Competition
Booster
Director/Screenwriter: Matt Ruskin. When Simon’s brother is arrested for armed robbery, he is asked to commit a string of similar crimes in an attempt to get his brother acquitted. Cast: Nico Stone, Adam DuPaul, Seymour Cassel, Kristin Dougherty, Brian McGrail. (World Premiere)
Eden
Director: Megan Griffiths, Screenwriters: Richard B. Phillips, Megan Griffiths, Story by: Richard B. Phillips & Chong Kim.
- 2/1/2012
- MUBI
With Sundance 2012 Film Festival over, the next big one on the horizon is South by Southwest, which we’ll be heavily covering. The biggest chunk of the line-up has been announced today, which has some great premieres including 21 Jump Street, Tiff and Sundance hit The Raid, Will Ferrell‘s Casa de mi Padre, the documentary Girl Model (which we liked at Tiff), as well as the next from Broken Lizard, The Babymakers. There are many other promising titles included and you can see them all below. Check back for our coverage for the fest, kicking off March 9th.
Narrative Feature Competition
This year’s 8 films were selected from 1,112 submissions. Each film is a World Premiere. Films screening in Narrative Feature Competition are:
Booster
Director/Screenwriter: Matt Ruskin
When Simon’s brother is arrested for armed robbery, he is asked to commit a string of similar crimes in an attempt to get his brother acquitted.
Narrative Feature Competition
This year’s 8 films were selected from 1,112 submissions. Each film is a World Premiere. Films screening in Narrative Feature Competition are:
Booster
Director/Screenwriter: Matt Ruskin
When Simon’s brother is arrested for armed robbery, he is asked to commit a string of similar crimes in an attempt to get his brother acquitted.
- 2/1/2012
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
South by Southwest, the annual festival held in Austin, TX, has just released its 2012 film lineup. Headliners include Joss Whedon's anticipated horror flick, "The Cabin in the Woods," (previously announced), '80s reboot "21 Jump Street" and black comedy "Killer Joe." Also on the list are "The Babymakers" starring Paul Schneider and Olivia Munn, and "Small Apartments" with the surprising trio of Billy Crystal, James Caan and Johnny Knoxville. You can check out the rest of the bigger headliners and feature films below. For the full list, head to SXSW.com. Headliners 21 Jump Street Directed by: Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, Screenplay by: Michael Bacall, Story by: Michael Bacall & Jonah Hill Police officers Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) get sent back to high school as undercover cops in the action-comedy 21 Jump Street. Cast: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Brie Larson, Dave Franco, Rob Riggle, with Ice Cube (World Premiere) Big Easy...
- 2/1/2012
- by Alex Suskind
- Moviefone
Attendees of South by Southwest 2012 are in for a treat. 130 feature films will screen at the Austin, Texas festival taking place March 9-17. Among them are 65 World Premieres, 17 North American Premieres and 10 U.S. Premieres. The organization already announced [1] Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon's The Cabin in the Woods would open the festival (the movie is phenomenal [2]) and today the majority of the remaining line up has been revealed. One of the highlights is the unbelievably smart and hilarious 21 Jump Street, directed by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller. Both of those are World Premieres. Other highlights include The Hunter, Killer Joe, The Babymakers, frankie goes boom, God Bless America, The Imposter, The Raid, Bernie and Casa de mi Padre just to name a few. After the jump, read descriptions of all the films that have been announced so far. Before I copy and paste the rest of the list, a few minor notes.
- 2/1/2012
- by Germain Lussier
- Slash Film
IFC Films
Rhombus Media, Buffalo Gal Pictures, Ego Film Arts
PARK CITY -- "The Saddest Music in the World" operates on the margins of cinema. This exercise in style and tongue-in-cheek melodrama from Canada's iconoclastic Guy Maddin will be lionized by admirers for its audacity, but will wear thin for many audience members, who will find it tedious and repetitive.
There is, however, no denying the talent on display: A surrealist whirl of crackpot, Depression-era characters, expressionistic sets, glimmering cinematography and musical numbers satirizing old Hollywood musicals, "The Saddest Music" is the work of a filmmaker in total control of his craft.
Set in Winnipeg in 1933, the film is designed to look like a movie made in that year but now in desperate need of restoration. Maddin and cinematographer Luc Montpellier shoot in a filtered, grainy black-and-white where the whites shine and the blacks grow increasingly unstable. Rickety construction of the obviously fake sets of a snow-bound town nicely mimic the B-movies of that era.
The story is a madcap tale of a double-amputee beer baroness (Isabella Rossellini), who finances a global competition to select the saddest music in the world. Pouring into town to compete for a gargantuan $25,000 prize are mariachi bands and Scottish bagpipers and the three male members of the local, downtrodden Kent clan, all of whom are secretly connected to the baroness.
Chester Kent (Mark McKinney) returns from the United States where his career as a theatrical impresario has come to a dead end. His eternal optimism is buoyed by a lover (Maria de Medeiros), who suffers from amnesia and nymphomania. His brooding estranged brother Roderick Ross McMillan) claims to represent Serbia, while spending most of his time mourning his long-lost wife and son. Their father Fyodor (David Fox), an alcoholic ex-surgeon, is determined to sing "Red Maple Leaves" for Canada.
When Roderick realizes his brother's lover is actually his wife, all hell breaks loose as the various bands play on, the winner of each round getting dumped into a huge vat of beer.
Rossellini, McKinney and the rest of the cast give spirited performances that are often over the top but that is what's required. The screenplay by Maddin and George Toles, based oddly enough on an old script by acclaimed novelist Kazujo Ishiguro, falls somewhere between spoof and satire but it's never entirely clear what is being mocked. Old movies? Winnipeg?
A viewer takes in this circus of bizarre characters and absurdist images -- the baroness at one point is given a pair of beer-filled glass legs -- with an appreciation for the inventiveness, but a wish that one might be more involved or at least entertained by the stylistic workout.
Rhombus Media, Buffalo Gal Pictures, Ego Film Arts
PARK CITY -- "The Saddest Music in the World" operates on the margins of cinema. This exercise in style and tongue-in-cheek melodrama from Canada's iconoclastic Guy Maddin will be lionized by admirers for its audacity, but will wear thin for many audience members, who will find it tedious and repetitive.
There is, however, no denying the talent on display: A surrealist whirl of crackpot, Depression-era characters, expressionistic sets, glimmering cinematography and musical numbers satirizing old Hollywood musicals, "The Saddest Music" is the work of a filmmaker in total control of his craft.
Set in Winnipeg in 1933, the film is designed to look like a movie made in that year but now in desperate need of restoration. Maddin and cinematographer Luc Montpellier shoot in a filtered, grainy black-and-white where the whites shine and the blacks grow increasingly unstable. Rickety construction of the obviously fake sets of a snow-bound town nicely mimic the B-movies of that era.
The story is a madcap tale of a double-amputee beer baroness (Isabella Rossellini), who finances a global competition to select the saddest music in the world. Pouring into town to compete for a gargantuan $25,000 prize are mariachi bands and Scottish bagpipers and the three male members of the local, downtrodden Kent clan, all of whom are secretly connected to the baroness.
Chester Kent (Mark McKinney) returns from the United States where his career as a theatrical impresario has come to a dead end. His eternal optimism is buoyed by a lover (Maria de Medeiros), who suffers from amnesia and nymphomania. His brooding estranged brother Roderick Ross McMillan) claims to represent Serbia, while spending most of his time mourning his long-lost wife and son. Their father Fyodor (David Fox), an alcoholic ex-surgeon, is determined to sing "Red Maple Leaves" for Canada.
When Roderick realizes his brother's lover is actually his wife, all hell breaks loose as the various bands play on, the winner of each round getting dumped into a huge vat of beer.
Rossellini, McKinney and the rest of the cast give spirited performances that are often over the top but that is what's required. The screenplay by Maddin and George Toles, based oddly enough on an old script by acclaimed novelist Kazujo Ishiguro, falls somewhere between spoof and satire but it's never entirely clear what is being mocked. Old movies? Winnipeg?
A viewer takes in this circus of bizarre characters and absurdist images -- the baroness at one point is given a pair of beer-filled glass legs -- with an appreciation for the inventiveness, but a wish that one might be more involved or at least entertained by the stylistic workout.
IFC Films
Rhombus Media, Buffalo Gal Pictures, Ego Film Arts
PARK CITY -- "The Saddest Music in the World" operates on the margins of cinema. This exercise in style and tongue-in-cheek melodrama from Canada's iconoclastic Guy Maddin will be lionized by admirers for its audacity, but will wear thin for many audience members, who will find it tedious and repetitive.
There is, however, no denying the talent on display: A surrealist whirl of crackpot, Depression-era characters, expressionistic sets, glimmering cinematography and musical numbers satirizing old Hollywood musicals, "The Saddest Music" is the work of a filmmaker in total control of his craft.
Set in Winnipeg in 1933, the film is designed to look like a movie made in that year but now in desperate need of restoration. Maddin and cinematographer Luc Montpellier shoot in a filtered, grainy black-and-white where the whites shine and the blacks grow increasingly unstable. Rickety construction of the obviously fake sets of a snow-bound town nicely mimic the B-movies of that era.
The story is a madcap tale of a double-amputee beer baroness (Isabella Rossellini), who finances a global competition to select the saddest music in the world. Pouring into town to compete for a gargantuan $25,000 prize are mariachi bands and Scottish bagpipers and the three male members of the local, downtrodden Kent clan, all of whom are secretly connected to the baroness.
Chester Kent (Mark McKinney) returns from the United States where his career as a theatrical impresario has come to a dead end. His eternal optimism is buoyed by a lover (Maria de Medeiros), who suffers from amnesia and nymphomania. His brooding estranged brother Roderick Ross McMillan) claims to represent Serbia, while spending most of his time mourning his long-lost wife and son. Their father Fyodor (David Fox), an alcoholic ex-surgeon, is determined to sing "Red Maple Leaves" for Canada.
When Roderick realizes his brother's lover is actually his wife, all hell breaks loose as the various bands play on, the winner of each round getting dumped into a huge vat of beer.
Rossellini, McKinney and the rest of the cast give spirited performances that are often over the top but that is what's required. The screenplay by Maddin and George Toles, based oddly enough on an old script by acclaimed novelist Kazujo Ishiguro, falls somewhere between spoof and satire but it's never entirely clear what is being mocked. Old movies? Winnipeg?
A viewer takes in this circus of bizarre characters and absurdist images -- the baroness at one point is given a pair of beer-filled glass legs -- with an appreciation for the inventiveness, but a wish that one might be more involved or at least entertained by the stylistic workout.
Rhombus Media, Buffalo Gal Pictures, Ego Film Arts
PARK CITY -- "The Saddest Music in the World" operates on the margins of cinema. This exercise in style and tongue-in-cheek melodrama from Canada's iconoclastic Guy Maddin will be lionized by admirers for its audacity, but will wear thin for many audience members, who will find it tedious and repetitive.
There is, however, no denying the talent on display: A surrealist whirl of crackpot, Depression-era characters, expressionistic sets, glimmering cinematography and musical numbers satirizing old Hollywood musicals, "The Saddest Music" is the work of a filmmaker in total control of his craft.
Set in Winnipeg in 1933, the film is designed to look like a movie made in that year but now in desperate need of restoration. Maddin and cinematographer Luc Montpellier shoot in a filtered, grainy black-and-white where the whites shine and the blacks grow increasingly unstable. Rickety construction of the obviously fake sets of a snow-bound town nicely mimic the B-movies of that era.
The story is a madcap tale of a double-amputee beer baroness (Isabella Rossellini), who finances a global competition to select the saddest music in the world. Pouring into town to compete for a gargantuan $25,000 prize are mariachi bands and Scottish bagpipers and the three male members of the local, downtrodden Kent clan, all of whom are secretly connected to the baroness.
Chester Kent (Mark McKinney) returns from the United States where his career as a theatrical impresario has come to a dead end. His eternal optimism is buoyed by a lover (Maria de Medeiros), who suffers from amnesia and nymphomania. His brooding estranged brother Roderick Ross McMillan) claims to represent Serbia, while spending most of his time mourning his long-lost wife and son. Their father Fyodor (David Fox), an alcoholic ex-surgeon, is determined to sing "Red Maple Leaves" for Canada.
When Roderick realizes his brother's lover is actually his wife, all hell breaks loose as the various bands play on, the winner of each round getting dumped into a huge vat of beer.
Rossellini, McKinney and the rest of the cast give spirited performances that are often over the top but that is what's required. The screenplay by Maddin and George Toles, based oddly enough on an old script by acclaimed novelist Kazujo Ishiguro, falls somewhere between spoof and satire but it's never entirely clear what is being mocked. Old movies? Winnipeg?
A viewer takes in this circus of bizarre characters and absurdist images -- the baroness at one point is given a pair of beer-filled glass legs -- with an appreciation for the inventiveness, but a wish that one might be more involved or at least entertained by the stylistic workout.
- 1/21/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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