Review of Nashville (1975) by Alex S — 08 Mar 2010

Because "Country Music Backdrop Against Political and Wartime Undertones with Lots of People" would just have been a stupid title. Look, I'm just going to come out and admit I'm the wrong type of person to really "get into" this film.

I don't care much for country music (a problem when at 2 and 1/2 hours, one of those hours is made up of musical performances, though if you're in for that, add another star to my review), the political commentary for the time this was made doesn't really interest me and the best character (for me) in a cast of nearly two dozen was a silent Jeff Goldblum who rides a goofy motorcycle and does magic tricks.

So right about now this sounds like the longest 2 and 1/2 hours you'll ever sit through but the good news is Altman is behind the wheel and he knows what he is doing. I'm not even going to bother attempting to work the story in here (suffice it to say, it's a pretty sprawling epic for taking place over a handful of days) but it moves along at a decent enough pace.

Sort of. Musical performances dot the landscape and some stories interested me far more than others (recovering country music star bouncing back... maybe, country superstar wannabe who has no talent, etc.

win out over angry guy who wants a music career, British journalist who, while a great social commentary on the need for news, wears out her welcome six seconds into her role and disembodied politician voice in a van, which is even more sorrowful when you consider how awesome a concept that is.

.. bonus points for the fact that you never see the fact the voice comes out of). And then we get to the big finale and I think I get what Altman was going for but instead of "Now where do we go from here?" I was feeling more "Now what was the point of this whole thing?" Worth a watch to see what all the buzz is about but not essential.