Nashville

Rating:
Summary: I love this movie.
Review: NASHVILLE, which I watched for the first time a couple weeks ago, is the best Robert Altman film I've ever seen. It's the first, I believe, and best of his forays into true ensemble framework narratives. (You know what I mean, where there are 25 characters who all are connected somehow, where not everything ties together, and there are 14 plots instead of one.)

The film takes place over five days in the Country Music Capitol of the World. Some of the characters are in the music business, some of them want to be, and some of them are tangentially linked to the music business. There's a new radical presidential candidate in town, and there are hints throughout the film that an assassination attempt is in the air. Something about some of the characters just isn't quite right, like the way Scott Glenn's character seems obsessed with a singer or how one character gives a long speech about the Kennedy assassinations.

It's a labyrinth plot about people, how they live their lives, how they follow dreams and how they hope to escape the emptiness around them.

It's brilliantly acted. The script is the best. And no one directs this kind of film better than Altman, though SHORT CUTS and READY TO WEAR are lesser films than this one.

Rating:
Summary: The Great American Film of the 70s
Review: Working from a screenplay by Joan Tewesbury, Robert Altman has created the most innovative and most endlessly fascinating film of the 1970s. This epic satire-tragedy is also hilariously funny, thanks to brilliant performances from (among others) Lily Tomlin, Ned Beatty, Shelley Duvall, Karen Black, Barbara Harris, Henry Gibson and Ronee Blakely, whose indelible "Barbara Jean" (based to some extent on Loretta Lynn) is one of the great characters in movie history.

This movie was nominated for a shelf-load of Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actress for Blakely and Best Supporting Actress for Lily Tomlin. Naturally the picture was shut out, but that's show biz. Note: There is a a very vocal contingent of 'Nashville'-bashers out there, saying it's shallow, it's boring, it's too long, it's this, it's that. What I say is, it's their loss.

Rating:
Summary: What we should mean by patriotism
Review: Robert Altman's 1975 picture remains as enigmatic as ever. The film has a huge cast of 24 actors, most of who appear in only brief scenes with few other characters. Add to this the fact that many of the lines are delivered in a flat or even seemingly improvised fashion, with a tendency for characters to interrupt and speak over each other, and it's easy to feel that the disparate characters are not connected to each other at all. This is Altman's intention though, because this film is about the hopes and ambitions of the individual within the larger society of bicentennial America.

And the plot does come together to some extent as we build to the final song, one of the most moving endings in film history in my opinion. The lyrics, sung by an unknown, interspersed with scenes of America's young in a melting pot American city, suggest a stoicism, perseverance (as one idol falls, another rises to replace her) and vitality. Even after Vietnam, Watergate, assassinations, and deep recession, crossroads America itself maintains hope and optimism. 'Nashville' suggests we are not such a young and homogenous country after all.

Among the individual islands the film explores, standouts are Ronee Blakey as the beautiful and intense but fragile diva, Hnry Gibson as the king of country, with political aspirations, and Lily Tomlin as a loving mother and gospel singer facing a marital crisis. The incredible fact that much of the music was written and performed, with little rehearsal, by many of the actors (Keith Carradine and Karen Black's musical performances are also noteworthy) lends a kind of democratic (for lack of a better word) authenticity to the film as well.

Rating:
Summary: "The Damnedest Thing You Ever Saw"
Review: NASHVILLE is, according to the movie trailer included on the DVD, "the damnedest thing you ever saw"--and the statement is accurate: Robert Alman's NASHVILLE is one of the rare films that truly defies description. The film follows a myriad of characters over the course of several days leading up to a political rally, and their stories intersect and overlay each other to create a touching, troubling, and wickedly funny portrait of America at its most gloriously superficial. Given the diversity of material the film presents, the viewer is necessarily forced to focus attention on various aspects of the film at the expense of others. As a result, no two viewers will see the film from precisely the same point of view--and no one viewer will have the same reaction to multiple viewings. Even so, all thematic roads lead if not to Rome at least to the Roman colliseum of American celebrity and politics, where fame is won and lost in the wake of violence and where the strong consume the weak without significant personal animosity.

The performances are stunning across the board--so much so that one is unable to think of any individual performer without also thinking of the cast as a whole. Although director Altman does not so much guide as observe, there is a certain inevitability to the progression of the characters the film presents. Given the complexity of the film and the fact that it requires viewers to actively and selectively interpret the material as it unfolds, NASHVILLE will likely defeat a great many viewers, who may find themselves frustrated by the film's constantly shifting content; still others will be outraged by the vision it creates of America as a society. For those willing and able to dive into the complex web of life it presents, Altman's masterpiece will be an endlessly fascinating mirror in which we see the energy of life itself scattered, gathered, and reflected back to us. A masterpiece that bears repeated viewings much in the same way that a great novel bears repeated readings. A personal favorite and highly, highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: American Life as a microcosm
Review: An astonishing film, rich in satire and brilliantly executed. Altman manages to weave so many subplots and characters seamlessly. One of his crowning achievements. I still don't understand the negative reviews.

Rating:
Summary: Quite Possibly the Most Patriotic Film Ever Made...
Review: Robert Altman's NASHVILLE, an perfectly exhilarating film and an even better cinematiic experience, follows twenty-four characters through the Country Music Capital of the World for three eventful days, and by the end we have grown to love them all (even the ones we hate). The film is structureless (characters wander in and out, and we merely wander around with them to hospitals, restaurants, and hotel rooms) while also being perfectly constructed (it feels carefree and spontaneous, and yet it builds and builds to an unbelievable finale). At once, Altman skewers the music industry, the government, and American hospitality in general. It's not officially a satire, but if it is, then it's easily the most entertaining one ever made, hilarious and heartbreaking. We laugh at the ridiculous BBC reporter (Geraldine Chaplin) and her pathetic, quasi-intellectual ramblings. We despise the womanizing musician (Keith Carradine) who, before one woman is even out the door, is already calling another one up to sleep with him. We pity the poor, naive, untalented, bra-stuffing waitress (Gwen Welles) determined on becoming a singing star, despite the fact that, as one of the other characters puts it wonderfully, "she can't sing a lick." We cry out for the unstable country diva Barbara Jean (played devastatingly by Ronee Blakley), frail and fragile, as her brain unspools before a crowd of merciless, unsympathetic fans. We simultaneously love the Country King himself, Haven Hamilton (Henry Gibson) for being so damned out there and loathe him for being so damned slimy. Robert Altman never intended to make NASHVILLE a specifically patriotic film--he intended to simply make it a representation of American life in its bicentennial year--and by doing just that it *became* patriotic. NASHVILLE portrays American life like no other film or any other piece of art ever has; here, in this fake version of real life which feels more like real life than almost any other movie ever made, America is beautiful, is tacky, is corrupt, is joyous, is ultimately strong, despite all of its faults. As the film reaches its exultant conclusion, we experience a genuine high from the sheer emotion it has given off--and it's a high that, as Pauline Kael emphasized in her now-famous review of the film, doesn't go away when the movie is over. It stays with you.

Rating:
Summary: One of the 70's greatest films and that's saying a lot!
Review: I am waiting for a better DVD version with more extras and 1:85 ratio 2:35 is too small for me. I do own the video and I have no idea how many times I have watched this movie. It's almost worn out. If you are looking for a movie about country music this isn't it. It's about the way we were living and what was going on in the world and our country in the 70's. Yes I am old enough to remember! It is a film that most people seem to really love or really hate. I love it! Great cast! I am a huge Lily Tomlin fan and she is is wonderful in this film, but so is the rest of the cast. The 70's had some of the greatest films ever made this is one of the best!

Rating:
Summary: The real Nashville?
Review: Does this movie portray the real Nashville? I don't know; I don't work in the music industry. However, something tells me that this movie really does portray the real Nashville. It portrays people of mediocre talent; people who think they're the greatest thing since sliced bread. Some of the lyrics are so corn-ball they make you squirm with embarrassment, for example, "My mommy and daddy, my Idaho home".

Rating:
Summary: incredible film, so-so dvd
Review: i'm biased. i'm an adorer of anything done by robert altman. so it is. but this dvd somehow doesn't seem to do justice to this amazing film. here are a few reasons why the dvd coulda/shoulda been better.

-the sound is kind of weird, the music sequences have high high volume and the dialogue is often too quiet at times that you have to turn up the volume on your set and then get a nasty jolt when the film cuts away to a music sequence. and if you know how many times this movie goes back and forth between music sequences you can perhaps understand my frustration. i understand that during robert altman's career and given his attention to dialogue and sound mixing a great deal of technical innovation occurred as a result of altman's efforts and contributions. i think it would have been to his benefit (and his work's benefit) if he revisited this production and did something about the sound mixing.

-the film transfer doesn't seem to be all that grand. certain scenes appear a little too washed out and bright and the colours seems distorted. this as well would have benefitted greatly from developments in film production technology these days.

-the extras are so-so. it seems as tho there would be mountains of praise for this film (actually i'm sure there is), interviews (20+ characters? come on!), commentaries, additional scenes left out (altman actually refers to these on the disc) and it would be interesting to see some outtakes considering the scale and grandeur of altman's style especially with regards to this particular film. and (again i'm being biased here) i would have loved to see some outtakes/bloopers with geraldine chaplin's character cos altman says in the commentary that a lot of her monologues (in the scrap yard, in the bus yard, elsewhere) were improvised.

anyway, i love this film. i dropped the rating down one only star because i thought that the dvd could have been a little better and offered something special to those of us that understand the tremendous amount of tenacity and talent that culminates in a robert altman film.

so, get this dvd if you want the best currently available version of this film and to treasure it until hopefully another company (criterion? *wishing*) picks this film up as a project to restore and flesh out.

i hope this review has been useful.

Rating:
Summary: Altmanian Sample of the US...
Review: In the aftermath of the Vietnam war and the Watergate Scandal American people had a large amount of cynicism for the United States government. The newly formed Replacement Party is attempting to make a run for the United States Presidency with their presidential candidate. To boost their chances to win they try to get help from Nashville's country musicians. The Replacement Party's outspoken policy includes: rewriting the national anthem, preventing tax exemption for religious groups, and banning lawyers from congress. These prerecorded proposals are being repeatedly spat out through a white van's loud speakers while driving around. As mentioned before, this is taking place in Nashville, i.e., Music City, through the actions and consequences of a kaleidoscope of characters, which can be seen as a sample of the American people. Almost the entire story is filmed from a distance which provides a feeling of objectivity and it enhances the audience's ability to form their own hypotheses based on what is being displayed. Under Altman's dazzling direction the audience can also experience a sense of realism through the long shots and multiple activities that can be observed in almost every scene. The score goes well in hand with the theme, since country music is something that is made in United States. The cast is extraordinarily well put together and their performances are outstanding. When all of these facets of the film are put together, the audience should be prepared to face a brilliant cinematic experience.