Review of Short Cuts (1993) by Chris W — 23 Jun 2012

After managing to escape largely cinematic abyss that was the 80s, Robert Altman had somewhat of a renaissance in the early 90s thanks in part to The Player, and this film.

Short Cuts is a very loose adaptation of some of the writings of Raymond Carver, weaving together nine short stories and one poem into a tapestry of life in Los Angeles that follows about 22 characters over the course of a few days. Carver's stories were originally not connected, and took place in the Pacific Northwest, but Altman decided to blend them together, finding links or short cuts between them to make a sprawling and colorful mosaic dealing with themes of death, infidelity, misunderstanding, jealousy, and the quest for fulfillment.

In many ways, I think I liked this more than Nashville, and found it even more accesible, despite the fact that this film is actually longer and a bit more rambling. Maybe it's just because I'm more familiar with the man's style and knew what to expect, which is something I couldn't say upon viewing Nashville. I still think that Nashville is far more of a masterpiece and definitely more of an important cinematic and cultural touchstone than this, though.

Don't ask me to list all the actors who are in this. That'd be insane. I will list my favorites though: Tom Waits, Lily Tomlin, Julianne Moore, Frances McDormand, Peter Gallagher, and Jack Lemmon. Plus, there's tons of nudity, and sexuality is a major part of this film in general. Some of it does start to become frayed and fall apart by the end, and, of course, some of the stories are better than others, but I do love the fractured, interconnected nature of things, and how some of the stories run concurrent with one another.

All in all, a film that was easier to get through than I might have anticipated. It's not a strict adaptation of Carver's work, and more like a jazzy, free form look at the essence of his stuff instead, but that's fine. If anyone could get away with doing that sort of thing, it was definitely Altman. As wonderful as this all is though, you might not want to approach this if you're an Altman newbie.