The great bane of independent filmmaking is pretention, often manifested as the "weird just for the sake of being weird"
syndrome. Some directors, especially novice ones, believe incomprehensibility is the same thing as depth, and they imbue their films with nonsensical dialogue and druggish images. "The Saddest Music in the World" shows the positive flip side of cinematic weirdness. It is a crazy, crack-smoking movie, no question, but it's weird in an accessible, amusing way. It's not obtuse or illogical. Its plot, in fact, is entirely straightforward. It's the way the story is told, the details, the fringes, the camera work, that make it a giddy, insane lark. It's bizarre filmmaking that regular people can enjoy, too. Directed by Canadian maverick Guy Maddin, the film is set in Winnipeg in 1933, the midst of the Great Depression (which Canada totally stole from us). Chester Kent (Mark McKinney), a Winnipeg native who became a Broadway producer, went broke, and has now returned home, is desperate for a new idea ("It needs to be vulgar and obvious, full of gimmicks," he says of American sensibilities), and also for money. His girlfriend, Narcissa (Maria de Medeiros), who claims to have a tapeworm that talks to her, is as broke as he is. They are in love, but love doesn't keep you warm during the Manitoba winters (unless you set your love on fire, I guess).
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