Many loosely connected characters cross paths in this film, based on the stories of Raymond Carver. Waitress Doreen Piggot accidentally runs into a boy with her car. Soon after walking away, the child lapses into a coma. While at the hospital, the boy's grandfather tells his son, Howard, about his past affairs. Meanwhile, a baker starts harassing the family when they fail to pick up the boy's birthday cake.
04 Dec Short Cuts (1993)
Space Jazz
Altman is uneven, and not all of his failures are interesting. But he does one thing better than anyone else. And so far as I know, he invented it. Most filmmakers start with someone else’s vision, and then make it real. The better ones have their own vision, and the story is a framework for their art. But either way, the work is divided between the creative talent (the writer and director and other supporting trades) and the performers.
Altman does things the other way around. He starts with large groups of exceptionally talented actors, gives them little direction, shoots mountains of takes, and then weaves it all together. The life of the film emerges from the actors. Then Altman takes that motion, those rhythms and plays them against one another. It is as close as one can get to cinematic jazz, at least jazz from actors.
P T Anderson is first a writer. His primary creation is the script. So while ‘Magnolia’ bears some superficial resemblance to ’Short Cuts.’ it is a completely different beast. Chamber music compared to jazz. A more apt comparison is to ‘The Thin Red Line,’ which works with the same sort of jazz weave, except the focus in ‘Line’ is on remembrances through sounds and voiceovers. Here the focus is on the immediate mini-ensembles.
This is quite simply one of the most important films of the decade.
It must be sort of a Rorschach test to report which characters impressed the most. In terms of the character for me it was Lori Singer’s character. Strange. She really is playing the cello, and with passion. She really is playing something `totally, absolutely real, but not.’ But her career otherwise seems to not have taken off.
Moore and Downey are among the best actors alive, and it really shows. Robbins, McDormand and Leigh sometimes are extraordinarily great, but not so here — they apparently need guidance. Tomlin and Waits are a gas. What fun.
My only complaint is that sometimes Altman puts together shockingly long and complex tracking shots, and they are missing here. They would detract from the players.
Posted in 2001
Ted’s Evaluation — 4 of 3: Every cineliterate person should experience this.
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