THE SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD (2003)

This essay contains spoilers. Be forewarned.

My relationship to Canadian film is at best a disconnected one. Not living in a major city or a place where they would have adequate visibility, my idea of Canada's cinematic identity growing up was informed by mainly magazines and T.V. showings of classic Canadian films on regional broadcasters (and by that, I mean I saw them in T.V. listings, never watching the movies themselves). Basically nature, heavy human drama, and many sorts of things no American studio would release.

Isabella Rossellini as Lady Helen Port-Huntley

Mark McKinney as Chester Kent

David Fox as Fyodor Kent

Ross McMillan as Roderick Kent (a.k.a. "Gavrilo the Great")

Maria de Medeiros as Narcissa

While Canadian films made wholly in the country had the benefit of actors who worked on both sides of the border (Graham Greene, Wendy Crewson, Colm Feore), or an occasional starring role by a Hollywood star, even my introverted ten-year-old self took notice when Maclean's May 3, 2004 issue featured a great article with director Guy Maddin and the star of his then-latest film, Isabella Rossellini. 

"Listen to the sounds of Winnipeg."

The original ASMR.

Rossellini is Lady Helen Port-Huntley, a beer heiress in 1933 Winnipeg who organizes a publicity-driven contest to see which country has "the saddest music in the world", attracting countless participants, three of them from the same torn-apart Canadian family.

The saddest cheerleaders to "forget" the American word...

Slimy Broadway producer Chester Kent (McKinney) arrives with nymphomaniac girlfriend Narcissa (de Medeiros) in hopes of using the prize money to finance his latest show. His father Fyodor (Fox), a depressed alcoholic tormented by the accident that led to the amputation of both of Helen's legs (long story, but you will laugh a little), is energized to enter the contest, while also formulating a plan to win Helen back. Fyodor's son (and Chester's brother) Roderick (McMillan) also enters the contest as "Gavrilo the Great", his Serbian persona adopted after the death of his son and the disappearance of his wife.

Roderick's backstory is the saddest of all, but his intentionally-dour characterization 

brings out the humor in a cinematic style not known for deep characters.

Set against the backdrop of a Winnipeg winter and emulating styles like silent film and German Expressionism, Saddest Music's execution focuses more on visuals, absurdity, and taking the audience on a darkly comic, stylistic trip than on traditional characterization and drama.

Of course, you won't read me complaining.

With performances pitched to a slightly-cartoon, melodramatic tone, but never working against each other, Saddest Music really does feel like one is watching a film from an older time, albeit with some things not even a Pre-Code film would allow.

Ahem.

One of Saddest Music's chief ironies is how, not unlike an Altman film, the contest itself isn't nearly as important or interesting as the characters within it. Love triangles, death, considerable destruction of property, and also a few musical numbers figure prominently, all under the smoky sheen of the aforementioned "trip".

I too initially thought Kids in the Hall alum McKinney was an odd choice for this sort of movie.

Then I remembered how well he'd always fit whenever that show did old-style parodies.

Fox brings such an earnest, sympathetic, down-to-earth (for this film anyway), 

human quality to Fyodor that I genuinely felt sad when his character died.

Despite Lady Port-Huntley being just as unethical as Chester,

Rossellini is so arresting and magnetic that we still root for and feel for her.

One might be reminded of They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969), in terms of people driven to desperation in an absurd (and rigged) competition. While Saddest Music's participants aren't starving or portrayed as deeply human as that film's characters, the role of the Great Depression and how it "threw" different people together is a driving force in the film's "collision" of elements.

Special credit should be given to the numerous musicians

playing the film's various contestants.

THE ROLE OF REGIONALISM (AND THE "CANADIAN IDENTITY")

Kazuo Ishiguro's original 1985 script set the action in London on the eve of Perestroika, with the contest encouraging free market capitalism and participation of countries behind the Iron Curtain. With Maddin and George Toles' rewrite setting things to 1933 Winnipeg, one can sense a feel of bumping up against the ironic double edge of representation and the idea of Canada supposedly having a lack of unique cultural identity.

Other than, of course, snow, snow, and more snow.

Despite being a younger Canadian raised in the "post-multicultural" era and perhaps not understanding more about this approach than most American viewers, I've picked up on enough cultural regional quirks, attitudes, histories, and debates that allowed me to contextualize at least some of what Maddin and Toles were trying to say with these changes.

Lady Port-Huntley puts herself top, front, and center as a

Canada-free Lady Liberty.

The big "sleeping elephant" in Saddest Music's room is, of course, the role, presence, and influence of American culture in Canadian life. Lady Port-Huntley plans to exploit the end of Prohibition in America through her own capitalistic means, Chester has abandoned his Canadian identity entirely and lies to several contest competitors in order for them to join his "American" team, Roderick has also abandoned his Canadian roots in favor of his new Serbian persona to fit his sadness, and Fyodor's desperate clinging to his Canadian identity involves adopting stereotypical traits (i.e. a love of beer) and wearing his WWI army uniform (a small detail perhaps, but full of associations if you know about Canada's role and cultural "evolution" in and after the war). And that's not even scratching the surface of the American factor (For more, see the link to David Church's essay under "Tidbits and Such" below.)

And more anecdotally, the choice of setting the story in Winnipeg works on another level for me as a Canadian.

And not just because I hate the cold.

Provincial regional humor is rife in Canadian satire, seeing as Canada is a vast, but divided country in endless ways. British Columbians make fun of Alberta, the West makes fun of the Prairies, everyone makes fun of Toronto and Quebec...

Maddin's view of Winnipeg is certainly a loving one, but still echoes other natives' sentiments that while they are proud of where they came from, prairie winters are infamously bitter and isolation is common, and with Winnipeg basically being the center of Canada's "Dust Bowl", it makes for a fitting epicenter for a plot where sadness and loneliness converge with desperation and dissonant calm.

Not to mention falling back into old, destructive habits.

Judging from the plot, you know this won't end well...

THE STUFF OF DREAMS (AND "THE DIRTY THIRTIES")

The bread and butter of Saddest Music is of course, the dazzling visuals created by Maddin and cinematographer Luc Montpellier. I especially loved the switches over to the look of two-strip Technicolor (a look that's criminally under-emulated today), as well as the sparkling new glass legs of Lady Port-Huntley. To say that these screencaps do not do the whole film justice would be a vast understatement.

TIDBITS AND SUCH

In 2005, Rossellini reteamed with director Maddin for the 17-minute short film My Dad is 100 Years Old, where she played every role, including father Roberto and mother Ingrid Bergman (above), though personally, I see more of Ingrid when Rossellini plays Federico Fellini (below). Must be the squint.

Brian D. Johnson's 2004 article from Maclean's can be read here.

Daniel Garrett examines Saddest Music's place in Canadian cinema here.

David Church delves deeper into Saddest Music's cultural satire and commentary here.

GoreGirl's Dungeon's review of Saddest Music can be read here.

Director Maddin reflects on Saddest Music and other films here.

What constitutes a "Canadian" film may be up for a lively (if not at the forefront) cultural debate, but whatever preconceptions you may have about Canadian cinema, The Saddest Music in the World will challenge them, and then some.

Copyright © Chynna Moore

SUPERMAN RETURNS (2006) AND THE PITFALLS OF NOSTALGIA

In the summer of 2006, I had just graduated elementary school. The summer after, I had just gotten my first set of braces, and the summer after that, I did my final year of parks and rec volunteering, as well as reacquainted myself with the production of 1978's Superman. In parsing those long-lost memories of that time a decade later, I realized that my mind had "congealed" those years together, and around the same setting, that being my orthodontist's office.

Funny how memory (and nostalgia) works.

Tying that unusual setting with Superman further was the heavily-marketed (and heavily-merchandised) release of Bryan Singer's sequel/homage/reboot/godforbidreimagining of Richard Donner's 1978-1980 Superman films, not to mention the optimistic, "clean slate" vibe permeating the cultural zeitgeist (and the new things I was learning about) in the mid-2000s.

Brandon Routh as Superman...

...a.k.a. Clark Kent

Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane

Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor

With Superman films (yes, more than one) in development hell for the better part of 20 years, fans in 2006 were finally getting something, anything, that would erase the bad cinematic taste of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, and honor the memory of the recently-departed Christopher and Dana Reeve. Donner's Superman and Richard Lester's Superman II had found new life on DVD a few years prior, and 2006 would also see the release of Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut, a more-than-slightly-patchworky but highly enjoyable amendment to what fans considered a nearly-thirty-year-old mistake.

With all that in mind, you can understand why Singer chose to go the way he did.

Well, partially.

Also recently released was 2005's Batman Begins, the first of the 2000s "dark and gritty" superhero films whose aesthetic has now been talked to death, analyzed, parodied, overused, and "congealed" to all hell, proving to ultimately be more profitable in the coming decade. (The Dark Knight would solidify that, but worldwide, Superman Returns actually outgrossed Batman Begins.)

For me, Superman Returns doesn't warrant a regular review or essay, because the place its existence holds in my memory is more than what's in it, but it also represents how transitional the mid-2000s really were, and how that possibly fed the impulse to go in perhaps the most self-sabotaging direction possible. With one foot in the Donnerverse camp and the other in the grittier 2000s camp, Superman Returns makes the cardinal mistake of wanting both and ultimately satisfying neither. And in the visual medium of film, wanting both is more than bad enough.

THE ROLE OF HOMAGE (AND TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING)

Let me preface this by saying that I am a huge fan of Superman and The Richard Donner Cut, and as a screenwriter, I'm also a big believer in homage and "stealing like an artist".

So long as it's done subtly.

Very often in this film, dialogue either repeats or recycles dialogue and exchanges from the first film, with very little variation or twist on it. Plot points are recycled, settings are repeated with little variation, and characters aren't shown to have grown very much from before.

Which is a problem, seeing as the film is firmly established to be a sequel to the original Superman II.

Believe it or not, Brando's presence is one of the less

headscratching moments from this film.

Due to the state of Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty's script (seeming like a first draft or a fan film than an intended series-launching blockbuster), and some of the newer aspects not being at their strongest, Superman Returns' homages ring through clear as day and (ultimately) distractingly so. And because we can watch the first film and see Lois and Supes first fly together, it just further makes the dialogue and direction between Routh and Bosworth seem as cold as the night air itself.

Seriously, Routh and Bosworth have little to no chemistry, which is not good when 

Lois Lane is supposed to at least swoon a little for Superman and barely notice Clark.

THE ROLE OF THE SCRIPT (AND THE FURTHER SUPER SHADOW)

Going back to the script itself, the glaring lack of connective tissue opens the film up to countless questions regarding the emotional core and internal conflict that started the film itself. What were the full circumstances of Superman leaving Earth? Did he know Lois was carrying his child? Why didn't he make sure Lex Luthor was in no position to wreak havoc again? It's especially jarring considering the answers and explanations to similar questions Donner and screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz had provided within the first two films.

Luthor henchman Stanford (Kal Penn) was originally intended to be a former 

Daily Planet reporter bribed by Lex to plant false evidence and spur Superman 

to leave Earth and look for Kryptonian survivors.

With its "pick and choose" method of how it approaches the minutia of the Donner films, Superman Returns often introduces new ideas without consideration of their ramifications, the biggest of which have to do with Jason White's conception. (Remember, both versions of Superman II involve Lois either forgetting that film's events, or said events no longer happening in the first place.)

Jason (Tristan Lake Leabu) being Superman's son may not have been intended as a twist,

but it sure does rob the movie of some much-needed tension.

Even on its own merits, Superman Returns is often cold, staid, and emotionless in its direction, dialogue, and lack of chemistry, which unfortunately stand out more coupled with its impressive visuals and effects, much of which do actually hold up.

Lex's new ship lair is an inventive new idea that is used to

much story potential, unlike most in this film.

And perhaps most importantly of all, due to said coldness, it makes it difficult at times to really care about the characters and their relationships, ironic given the visceral emotional weight of the films it's trying to homage.

In the 2006 frame of mind, one would think Spacey would be an excellent choice for the role of 

Lex Luthor. But upon seeing the film, I found him oddly unfun and cold, an odd one out 

considering how the other characters are written closer to their Donnerverse counterparts.

THE ROLE OF UPDATING (AND LITTLE ELSE)

In the years since, reboots of Star Trek and Transformers have (for better or for worse) managed to set themselves apart from their originals thanks to the risks and new directions taken by their directors. As much as the Snyderverse tried so hard to move away from the Donnerverse, at least you can't accuse Zack Snyder of not committing to his own vision.

While hewing too close to the first two films is Superman Returns' biggest issue, the sneakier one close behind is the integration of aspects characteristic of the modern superhero movie sensibility. Since much of the film is so adherent to the sunnier, "old-fashioned" vein, the scene of Lex brutally inflicting pain on Superman is so dark and unpleasant that it kills much of whatever fun it had up until that point.

"You mean the kryptonite shank?"

"Yes, I mean the kryptonite shank."

All of this means that Superman Returns, whether directly following the Donnerverse or not, is basically at war with itself. Had perhaps more time been given to smooth out the tonal shifts in the film's second half, the landing might have been stuck and the right balance might have been struck. But as is, it's almost a cautionary tale, warning of how the Snyderverse would approach superhero brutality for brutality's sake.

SO, IS THERE ANYTHING I LIKED?

I found that many of the things I liked best about Superman Returns are those that built upon the characters' personalities and progressed them (even if only slightly).

Routh is quite good as Superman and Clark, and it's just too bad

he didn't have a better script to work with.

Eva Marie Saint as Martha Kent

Despite little screentime, she's the anchor of the film's Smallville scenes,

and I missed her when she was off-screen.

Reality Ensues

A well-done scene of Clark looking at Lois amidst a sea of Daily Planet personnel, 

which wouldn't have been out of place in the 1978 film.

Okay, I'm not gonna lie. That was pretty badass.

Frank Langella as Perry White

While always fun to watch, I was a little disappointed that Langella's 

Perry was calmer and chiller than Jackie Cooper's. 

(Maybe Perry was sneaking a few of Lois's nicotine patches?)

James Marsden as Richard White

While he could have gone the way many "Disposable Fiancé"s did in the mid-2000s,

Richard is actually a pretty nice guy who's understandably a tad wary of Superman,

but goes back to save him after Superman saves him, Lois, and Jason.

Sam Huntington as Jimmy Olsen

While a touch light by today's standards, Huntington is one of

the better-cast of Superman Returns' actors.

Parker Posey as Kitty Kowalski

While her part is underwritten, Posey brings life to the proceedings,

providing better chemistry with Superman than Bosworth does as Lois.

Lex cutting Kitty's brakes is not only a good little twist, but it's totally 

in-character for both (and well, perhaps any) incarnations of Lex.

Noel Neill (Lois Lane in the Superman serials and the 1950s T.V. series)

as Gertrude Vanderworth

Lex "inheriting" Gertrude's fortune and Kitty's introduction strike 

just the right balance between dangerous unease and villainous fun.

Jack Larson (Jimmy Olsen in the 1950s T.V. series) cameos as a bartender.

(This expression is very Matthau-esque, if you ask me.)

AN IRONIC AFTERWORD...

Adjusted for contrast, because my eyesight is even worse than Lois Lane's.

Going back to when Superman Returns was released and how it personified the good and the bad of the mid-2000s, it's recently occurred to me how double-edged of a sword memory and nostalgia can be. Not that things could never be as good as one remembers them, but as a writer, if you're using nostalgia as a creative influence, it's important to remember that merely inserting your nostalgia wholesale could stifle your creativity.

The way my mind worked, it "painted a bigger picture" and preserved the positive emotion and images from the period, rather than cold, hard facts. While that was a good start to set a story in, it still needed human beings, their emotions, dynamics, storytelling, a sense of progression, and even nostalgia from other periods in my life. Add Superman and my script's source material, and you have the mood that became the basis for my (as of this writing) current screenplay project today.

So basically, indirectly, and a whole lot ironically, I probably owe this movie a lot for what its existence reminded me of, rather than anything actually in it. That is, I was reminded of the Donnerverse Superman representing goodness and kindness in the modern era, with his enemy being cynicism.

A two-mooded film inspiring a two-sided criticism. Who knew?

TIDBITS AND SUCH

John Ottman's score, integrating new themes with John Williams' classic Superman themes, is objectively the best part of the film and deserves a listen. Below is the "Main Titles" theme.

Seriously, someone should pair this soundtrack with edits from the 1978 film.

Prior to Routh reprising the role for The CW's Crisis on Infinite Earths event, Superman Returns had been forgotten by the mainstream for many years, but I think those wanting a time capsule of the superhero film mentality of the mid-2000s will find lots to chew on.

As for myself, I'll instead take what its time reminded me of, rather than the film itself. In this case, nostalgia is better than it used to be.

Copyright © Chynna Moore