Saw The Saddest Music in the World, a very strange film that came out in 2003 but was deliberately shot to look like a silent film. It follows a family drama that unfolds in the shadow of a competition run by a beer baroness to find the saddest music in the world. These sad song competitions are held like boxing matches with both bands on stage at the same time, one dirge interrupted by a bell and then the other one started. The winner of each round slides down a slide into a vat of beer. It's so strange.
The beer baroness had her legs amputated after a car crash and now walks about on glass legs containing beer (she hates the feel of wood and plastic.) The most main character I suppose is this dashing cad who is flashy and American (this film takes place in Winnipeg) and is determined to win this competition. There's a lot going on. The glass legs stand out for most original image however.
the film doesn't quite live up to all of its nuttiness. The initial song battles are fun in their absurdity, the juxtaposition of sadness and tragedy with beer slides and color commentators, but the bits following the dashing cad main character are not that interesting. There's supposed to be tension between this wallow in misery and this man who is incapable of regret and worry. He's supposed to be somewhat heroic but he comes off as narcissistic.
With its old-timey look and throwback strangeness, this film is an interesting place to visit but not a place I'd like to live.
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