German Expressionism: Vol.4

The German Expression movement began before WWI and gained momentum in the 20’s and 30’s. It influenced architecture, painting and cinema. This movement gave surrealistic shape and structure to forms that reflect psychological states. This is evident in the extreme contrast of light and dark, the use of reflective surfaces and abstract optical tricks and even anthropomorphism.

Vol. 4 – The Saddest Music in the World (2003) – This film, set in Winnipeg during the Great Depression centers around a contest held by the local beer baroness, Lady Helen Port-Huntly (Isabella Rossellini) to find the saddest music in the world. Among the contestants we meet Fydor Kent (David Fox): a WWI vet and former doctor representing Canada and his son Chester Kent (Mark McKinney): a big shot musical producer representing America. We also meet the melancholic Roderick Kent (Ross McMillan): Fydor’s estranged son who comes to Winnipeg to represent Serbia after his wife left him and Narcissa (Maria De Medeiros): Chester’s sleepwalking, nymphomaniac Serbian girlfriend.

Don’t worry if you didn’t follow that weird plot synopsis. Trust me, the details acquired from watching the film will only make this story more bizarre. It may not be a German film but I wanted to talk about it to show how the movement has influenced some more recent cinema. Director Guy Maddin is one of the most expressionistic film makers of the modern age and this film showcases that aspect of his style very well. I haven’t seen all of his work but surprisingly, this is actually one of his more accessible movies.

This film exhibits both surreal and expressionistic qualities.  It is not a dream but rather exists in a constant dream like state created by the filmmaker’s techniques. It was shot with several different film stocks and portions of it are black and white with an extremely grainy texture. This is used to emphasize both the time and place that this story is set. The grainy look gives it the feel of an old timey news reel and the stark black and white contrast accentuates the extreme cold of a Winnipeg Winter. At times, he even adds a more foggy effect by smearing Vaseline on the camera lens. He also mixes in an assortment of various color tinted filters from time to time.

Other parts of the movie are shot in very brilliant contrasting colors. Notably, one of the first color scenes we find in this film is at a funeral. It seems as though there he adds more color to the screen in the scenes that showcase more spectacle and performance. The funeral is the first, and then later we see more color in the scenes that show the contest. I’m not exactly sure if I understand the rhyme or reason for everything Maddin is doing here but it makes for an amazing visual experience.

If you’ve never experienced a Guy Maddin film, I would suggest you start with this one. It’s actually a bit less obscure than a lot of his other work but it still manages to give you a great taste of what type of stuff you will find in his filmography and it’s currently available on NetflixWatch Instantly. It’s also worth noting that I think this film is hilarious. Each character is just a bit weirder than the last making this the type of film that you find lines like: “Sadness is just happiness turned on its ass.” And “No, I'm not an American. I'm a nymphomaniac.”

 

Enjoy.