Much like "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?", this movie shows Depression-era people trying to make something of themselves by participating in a contest, even if they have to degrade themselves somewhat. In this case, beer baroness Lady Helen Port-Huntley (Isabella Rossellini) wants to find out who can play the saddest music possible - offering a $25,000 prize - so people from all over the world come to take part.
Sound like a strange idea? I guess that it is, but they do a good job with it. The surreal nature of everything here is accentuated by the camera-work (hand-held and often blurred). "The Saddest Music in the World" is part indictment of capitalism, part look into peoples' desperate lives, but all very perceptive. Another good point for Canadian cinema, and for Isabella Rossellini.
Sound like a strange idea? I guess that it is, but they do a good job with it. The surreal nature of everything here is accentuated by the camera-work (hand-held and often blurred). "The Saddest Music in the World" is part indictment of capitalism, part look into peoples' desperate lives, but all very perceptive. Another good point for Canadian cinema, and for Isabella Rossellini.