On DVD (2006), 105 minutes, PG-13.
Robert Altman's final film is a fitting meditation on death punctuated by life. With Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Kline, Lindsay Lohan, John C. Reilly, Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Maya Rudolph, and Virginia Madsen, there's star power enough here to make me nervous. No reason. Each performance is finely nuanced and dead-on with Streep and Tomlin's Johnson Sisters so good it's scary. Still, the real star here is Garrison Keillor, who acts and adapted the screenplay. As in some Woody Allen works, Keillor can be heard in every line spoken by every player.
The film, shot primarily in real time, is the final installment of a no-longer-profitable old-time radio show (the same type of show, and with the same name, that Keillor brings to NPR audiences each week). The entertainers take turns singing songs and contemplating their next move until one of their own passes between numbers. Similar to Garrison's weekly show, the plot is a little beside the point. It's the cumulated effect of dozens asides, pithy sayings, pitch-perfect accents, and small-town America wisdom perfectly rendered. There's nothing shockingly new here and nothing that really sticks out, but what it is is executed perfectly. It is a rare thing to watch a national treasure at the top of his game. Between Streep and Keillor, Companion brings us two. B+
As an aside, I had the opportunity to watch films on back-to-back nights dealing with death-- this and The Fountain (B for me, sorry lawyer). Both films try and make sense of mortality through the lens of religion, with the Fountain using Buddhism and a Mayan myth and this one using Christian hymns and scripture. Their styles are as contradictory as their messages, with Fountain ornate, beautiful and philosophical and Companion deceptively simple, but packing the joys and sorrows of life. They work nicely together, both illuminating the stories that serve as lenses for us as we try and make sense of this life and its ending.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Prairie Home Companion - B+
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3 comments:
Nice last paragraph. I also gave The Fountain a B (http://dlpreviews.blogspot.com/2007/02/fountain-b.html ), but thought it could have been an A with about 45 more minutes and a more focused vision.
I have watched pieces of this on HBO over the last month, and have rolled my eyes at its pretension. Altman is hailed as a genius, but I haven't enjoyed any of his films (including Nashville, which I saw in Austin with him in the audience - in all fairness, I couldn't hear it well enough and should see it again). Dr. T and the Women is in my worst of all time list, as is Ready to Wear. I will confess to not having seen MASH the movie and hating MASH the tv show, so maybe he has at least one good one in the lot. The talky pretension turns me off, and I don't want to hear Woody Harrelson ad-libs.
FYI, the producers couldn't get insurance on the movie without a backup director because of Altman's age, so Paul Thomas Anderson (husband of Maya Rudolph, oddly enough) shadowed Altman the whole time.
B for me. My favorite bit was the "Bad Jokes" song by Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly. Tomlin and Streep were a fantastic pair, but Virginia Madsen was way too Wings of Desire. As with some Altman films, you're begging for a change of setting or unanticipated action.
I'll agree that both Altman and Nashville are overrated, but I still love most of his movies. Altman's most accessible film is The Player, followed by MASH and Gosford Park. If those three don't cut it, I'm not sure any of them will.
my hang-up on the fountain was that it seemed a little cold and sterile. i knew jackman was sad, but i certainly wasn't. if we hadn't known she was dying from the opening, that might have been a difference. concerning altman, the only one i've really enjoyed (besides this) was McCabe and Mrs. Miller, although I admit to not having seen MASH. Mr T i didn't like, but didn't hate as much as you, Ready to Wear is on my worst ever list. the player seemed a little pretentious to me (at 21). and, actually, i did enjoy Gosford Park.
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