The Saddest Music in the World

Make no mistake: This isn't really all that sad a film. Despite the title, and the premise (a contest to see who can play the saddest music in the world in 1930's Winnipeg), it's actually kind of a silly film.

It's also bizarre as heck. There's no other way to describe a film where, at a funeral, somebody sadly sings "Skip to My Lou." It's a film where somebody is so drunk, when they have to amputate their love's leg to save her from a car wreck, they cut the wrong leg off first. It's a film where, when they win a round of sad music, contestants get to slide into a vat of beer.

The plot does show why they get to go into a vat of beer: It's 1930's Canada, and the contest is being supported by a beer baronness (the one who got her wrong leg cut off, and now has none until near the end). But why waste beer like that? The film doesn't ask; at only an hour and forty minutes, it doesn't have time to ask about little details like that. Besides, why not?

Few films tend to take strange things like this and take them as seriously as you can while still having them be funny, so I'd recommend that if this sounds like the kind of thing you'd like, you seek it out. If you're into normal films, you may not want to bother.

It's a fun film while it lasts. It's not necessarily a great film, but hey, how many films are?