Review of Ragtime (1981) by Michael S — 11 Sep 2008

Yes I know - when I open my mouth its either "Kubrick, Kubrick, Kubrick" or "Cassavetes this and Casavetes that" and most certainly "AltmanAltmanAltman". But this film could have been Altman's masterpiece and the disparity shows when Milos Forman tries to make an Altman film.

There's a LOT of ground trying to be covered in this film - and there are some astounding moments, performances and insights. Breathtaking filmmaking is apparant somewhere in here. But its made apparant that Forman either doesn't have Altman's patience with a wide palette or the energy for it.

Its difficult for someone who has either read the novel or known what Altman radically planned to do with this film (three seperate films which would flesh out everything and could be seen in any order) and not see tremendous opportunities lost.

There is absolutely no attempt made to treat every character with depth and when an hour into the story we center fully on an albeit very well told story of one black man's agonizing struggle for integrity, we are still left wondering what is going on with the other dozen or so characters and threads we were introduced to for an hour beforehand.

It just continues to gnaw. Randy Newman's score is beautiful, the film makes its points and it is definitely not a waste of time or money. But it doesn't coneal that it is finally an artifact of Hollywood cowardice and lack of imagination or daring.

If Hollywood feels the need to make a film of an important, imaginative popular novel at least have the chutzpah to do it with honors and not a rush job. We are left with magical moments that go nowhere, intriguing characters who evade our grasp and a film which seems disturbingly indifferent in hindsight.