I think it’s safe to say that The Saddest Music In The World is what got Guy Maddin his biggest spotlight at the time. At least that’s how it seemed to me. Not only was this heavily pushed on home video and in constant rotation on the IFC channel, but it was his first film to feature more well-known actors (it should be noted this was the start of Guy Maddin & Isabella Rossellini’s ongoing 20+ year partnership). Frank Gorshin & Shelly Duvall do appear in his 1997 feature; Twilight Of The Ice Nymphs but, due to how different that film was compared to the rest of his work at the time, it sort of became the forgotten Guy Maddin movie within his filmography… You could walk in to any Blockbuster or Hollywood video and rent one of his movies. This wasn’t always the easiest thing to do. His films had been released on DVD prior to this but distributors like Kino and Zeitgeist weren’t always the easiest to come by as they mostly specialized in “art house” films which weren’t in high demand at your average video store chain. Now…mom & pop video stores may have carried Maddin’s earlier films but those types of stores were few and far between by the early/mid aughts (speaking from personal experience - I lived in southeast Virginia between 1999-2004 and couldn’t find any of his films to rent until moving to the tri-state area in late 2004). At the end of the day, it is my opinion that video store chains like Blockbuster were ultimately a negative (click here to read why), but being able to discover the work of Guy Maddin was one of the positives. As accessible as Saddest Music was, it still features all the standard ingredients that go in to a typical Guy Maddin film: Cucking, Kink-shaming, leg obsession, Canadian pride expressed mostly through hockey and tons of visual homages to older films. His style was not compromised in the least bit. This is the third Maddin film we’ve looked at this year so far so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that his films are full of references & homages and Saddest Music is no exception… Fellini I had been life-alteringly ardent about a number of Fellini films - Guy Maddin, uofitlaian Juliet Of Spirits /The Saddest Music In The World Dziga Vertov  I loved THREE SONGS ABOUT LENIN and MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA - Guy Maddin, UAlberta  Man With A Movie Camera /The Saddest Music In The World Man With A Movie Camera / The Saddest Music In The World Man With A Movie Camera /The Saddest Music In The World Buñuel I feel kind of Buñuelian - Guy Maddin, Offscreen.net The Exterminating Angel / The Saddest Music In The World Tristana / The Saddest Music In The World Von Sternberg People might be saying I was inspired by those geniuses. Particularly Von Sternberg, who I was watching rabidly, just before and soon after I first picked up a camera - Guy Maddin, Screen Slate  Docs Of New York / The Saddest Music In The World Busby Berkeley  I wanted to be Busby Berkeley, for crying out loud! I wanted to have chorus girls stomping their heels in my casting office - Guy Maddin, theQuietus.com Whoopee / The Saddest Music In The World (In addition to Maddin’s obsession with legs - the musical numbers in Saddest Music also pull from Busby Berkeley) David Lynch It goes back to when I first saw Eraserhead and started looking up every interview possible with David Lynch - Guy Maddin, criterion The Amputee / The Saddest Music In The World Homages aside - the story of Saddest Music In The World is quite unique. Maddin weaves the story of a music competition with a love entanglement/cuck-ish relationship between a father, his two sons, a beer baroness and a flighty songstress. …And it’s a musical! There’s a lot going on here (all under 2 hours), but this might be Maddin’s most “fun” film to date. On a previous entry I noted that Cowards Bend The Knee might be the best entry point for Maddin beginners but I’m starting to think Saddest Music is the safest bet. This isn’t his “best film” (although it will always have a special place in my heart because this was my entry-point in to Maddin’s work), but it’s certainly his easiest feature to digest and work your way backwards in to his filmography. You can see the seeds of Saddest Music and his love Bunuel all over his earlier work… The Criminal Life Of Archibaldo de la Cruz / Archangel Tristana / Archangel

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