First off, I love the radio show and have been listening ever since I can remember.
Secondly, I hate Robert Altman and have ever since seeing "The Player".
I thought that I could get through the movie riding on Garrison Keillor's talent; but, alas, no. It appears that my hatred of Altman outmatches my love for Keillor.
If Altman could:
- keep the camera still and not matching the motion of the meandering, directionless dialogue
- direct actors to give and take
- remember what pacing is
- die (What? He is. Thank you, God.)
- not hire a producer who is thrilled to work with Altman, thereby acting the sycophant and
not putting his foot down, a lot
- put aside his own buzz (Altman was overheard on the set of this film, saying, "Did you hear that Robert Altman is attached to this film?!)
You think that I'm kidding, but I was starting to feel sick. Imagine seeing one of your childhood icons held hostage by a swooshing-camera-happy (Altman has thrown out the dolly and mounted the camera on a spirograph), script-disregarding Altman. It's more than a man should be asked to bear. I'm going to pretend that this never happened.
2 comments:
I had the same feeling about the movie. I liked some of the music, but hated about everything else about it.
I decided to listen to the commentary, to see if I could get a better idea of what was supposed to be going on. Bad mistake. Altman and Kevin Kline spoke. Honestly, Altman spent about 60% of the time talking about how much money people made for the movie, and who made more than whom.
The other 40% was answering Kline's questions of "why did you do this?" His answer was always "I don't know." Idiot.
Altman is the type of director that gives me inspiration. If he can do it, who can't?
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