The seventh episode of Some Cast it Hot is music-themed movies. Alex, Caitlin, and I discuss The Saddest Music in the World. Our recommendations include The Legend of 1900, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, and The Glen Miller Story.
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This week has been really hard y’all. I mean, really. Fucking. Hard. Two essays and a website with a dash of art-group drama: that kind of hard.
So today is just going to be some nice pic-spam, a sort of shooting the breeze entry. It’s October! That’s one of my most favorite months! Time to start it out on a nice note.
Good things about This week:
I got a package in the mail.
It included the Lo Scarabeo Art Nouveau tarot deck;
To which I say: Gah! So pretty. Art Nouveau is experiencing something of a comeback right now, which I love. It’s a lovely style and a Tarot deck is well suited to it. I should also mention that I collect decks– I have a Rider-Waite, Halloween, King Arthur, and Gothic themed decks already.
The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh edited by Mark Roskill;
Apparently, it’s a bit hard to come by a good version of Van Gogh’s letters. There is a Complete collection, which has every one of them, is in multiple volumes, complete with art work, but costs several hundred dollars. For $10.20, and based on the reviews, the Roskill edition is the best for the most relevant letters and best organization.
and The Saddest Music in the World.
Which is a pretty awesome movie, but I will save my praise for the next episode of Some Cast it Hot.
Meanwhile, in Russian Lit class, we have been reading A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermentov.
A Hero of Our Time is the sort of novel about a sociopath that Bret Easton Ellis wish he could write. No one is at once creepy and sympathetic like Pechorin, who is able to exude charm and influence while at once acknowledging that he is a moral cripple.
Also, our book cover looks like this:
And if THAT isn’t awesome, I don’t know what is. That is like, the best damn cover for a 19th Century Russian novel ever. I defy the universe in finding a better one!
In related news, my life seems to becoming more and more Russian somehow. I have Matroshka key doo-dads and Russian Ark is at the top of my netflix queue. We’ll be watching Battleship Potemkin in film class next week.
I don’t know how to transition from that into this.
But here’s a picture of Cary Grant and a puppy. YAY.
I have no idea what’s more adorable in this picture, seriously.
Directed by Guy Maddin (2003) Starring: Mark McKinney, Isabella Rossellini, Maria de Medeiros, David Fox, Ross McMillan
In Winnipeg during the Great Depression, Beer Baroness Lady Helen Port-Huntley (Rossellini) has come up with an idea to raise sales: Hold a contest to find the saddest music in the world so that it can be used to further depress the nations so that they will turn to drink.
Chester Kent (McKinney), a cheerful American conman has decided to enter this contest, even though he’s never been sad in his life. He is joined by Narcissa (de Medeiros) a self-proclaimed nymphomaniac with memory problems. Kent’s family turns up, his father a former lover of Port-Huntley and his brother, a musical genius representing his adopted country of Serbia.
The conceit is a competition between nations, with contests happening like a mournful edition of Battle of the Bands. Chester Kent uses a concept of schmaltz in order to breeze through the rounds, while his father uses Canadian patriotism and his brother, Rodrick (alias Gavrillo the Great) uses the personal sorrow of losing his wife and child.
At times absurd– winning contestants get to slide into a pool full of beer, Lady Port-Huntley gets beer-filled glass legs– The Saddest Music in the World borrows its aesthetic from 1930s musicals, with most of the film in blurry black and white. Certain shots were made from Super 8 footage that Maddin had given to the cast and crew, creating frenzy hand-held camera scenes that add to the energy. The best part of the soundtrack relies on different variations of “The Song is You,” probably best seen here:
Over all, a really fun, slightly surreal film that oozes melodrama and musical shenanigans.
