I finally got around to watching the Altman film Nashville this weekend. It's an excellent movie, one that does not play to standard or convention, yet it runs nearly 3 hours long. I thought it felt a bit on the long side, but overall the film was well done.
Another bonus the film has is Shelley Duvall playing a loser groupie. It never fails. Shelley always seems to be cast as the same homely, loser, desperate character that is oblivious to her homeliness, loser-ness and desperation. Altman used her for a similar role in 3 Women. And Kubrick cast her in The Shining because despite the book (where King had the wife made out to be like she was some sex-goddess) Kubrick actually said the wife needed to be a bit of an insecure loser herself, in order to be married to such an abusive loser as that of Jack's character.
Nashville has some hilarious scenes, like this one woman who cannot sing, and she reminded me of all those typical wannabe singers on American Idol who likewise, suck ass. Though the film gave some good insight into what people (men especially) are really into, because when she is singing they are all booing her and it's not till she strips down naked that she finally receives cheers.
And then you have the skanky British reporter who sleeps with all the guys, and she's annoyingly PC and one of these faux artsy types. I thought the film did a good job of capturing all these characters and how in the end everything is not neatly tied up as it would be in films today. Some ends are left hanging, and characters go in and out of the film as they would in real life.The trailer actually provides a good background about the film, and explains it well. So watch it here:
