Customer Reviews

Short Cuts

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Altman's singature classic with twenty two characters and ten nearly distinct tales. Imagine the ingenuity required to interweave all of that into a seamless whole, but Altman manages the feat deliciously.

While the individual threads may coax discussion, it is their blending that enables a variety of perspectives. Most of them are poignant, for instance the life of a pool cleaner and his wife who vocalizes orgasms on the phone in her job as a tele-sex worker while changing her kids' diapers. Or the life of a couple whose son has been in a tragic accident that brings their lives to an abrupt halt. Etc.

Be warned, many of these vignettes, while very tautly scripted and cleverly screenplayed, remain "unresolved," which may not work for some viewers. Personally I feel that films like this are more genuine reflections of the world in which we live: people often don't change, questions are frequently left unanswered, and unbecoming things do happen every day.

It's a pure pleasure to find a movie that weaves such a deep and intelligent tapestry of human lives, with all their idiosynchratic travails and triumphs. An absolute gem for you to own, not just rent.

This was a very interesting movie. I absolutely loved the story within a story concept. For this movie to have been as long as it was it held my attention. Just for curiousity, I had to watch because I was so interested in what was going to happen to the characters next. All in all, this was a good movie and I recommend it for a day that you don't want to do anything but watch a good movie.

For all the soap fan out there listen up!! if you like to stick your nose into other people's problems this is the film for you..it deals with all issues from sex, drugs, even death...it gives you in inside on how families really are...this will not panit that pretty picture of the beaver family for you...i highly recommend this movie to any one who likes to stay at the edge of there seats with surprises and loves to laugh. thanks for taking the time to reading the reveiw, liz g. a kendal college student (film class)

I certainly liked this film, especially after a 2nd viewing. But it's weak spots kept me from feeling it's one of Altman's very best. There are some less than great performances in key roles -- some actors are miscast, or playing caricatures, or are just not that brilliant. Some story lines seem facile, and the ending feels unsatisfyingly convenient and cute. Still, there's a lot that's funny, and a lot that's moving. It just never quite has the depth, or power or overall vision of it's earlier multi-character epic cousin, 'Nashville'. That said, most critics and people seemed to like it even more than me, and it's well worth seeing and deciding for yourself.

This is a panorama of L.A. made up of eight interweaving plots based on the short stories of Raymond Carver. Carver's stories don't necessarily translate that well to the screen because they are about mostly stunted emotional lives and their events take place almost entirely on the inside. So the best acting performances in Altmans Short Cuts are by the actors who can convey those vagaries well and make them interesting. Julianne Moore and Matthew Modine to my mind give the best performances as the couple which finds it is unable to directly cope with a three year old moment of infidelity. Moore is a painter who paints people appropriately frozen in one emotion or another(similar to Longo or Salle) and Modine a doctor who is not equipped to see things except with scientific eyes. The two have some memorable moments together when their lives intersect with another plot line. They invite Anne Archer and Fred Ward(who are having their own meltdown) over for an L.A. cook out and the evening turns into a weekend. They all end up in clown make up as the strange and liberating weekend wears on. Wish this segment would have been given a whole movies worth of treatment.
Other stories include Andie Macdowell and Bruce Davidson and their little boy who is hit by a car driven by Lily Tomlin whose lover is played by Tom Waits. The first couple experiences grief while the second rebirth. Tomlins daughter is played by Lily Taylor and her group of friends include Robert Downey Jr. and Jennifer Jason Leigh and their story line just never fully develops into anything. Tim Robbins plays a philandering motorcycle cop whose wife is played by Madeline Stowe. One of Robbins lovers is played by an equally unfaithful Frances McDormand but none of these are but mildly interesting characters which just sort of remain on the drawing board which is unfortunate because they are all such great actors(wish they would have thrown aside those limiting short story plots and let their characters grow) . The problem with big group efforts like this is that no one story line is given enough time to develop and it ends up feeling like a soap opera, a good one but one that has to sort of remain on the surface skimming over lives that can't fully be realized in such short cuts. There are a couple more plot lines but in the end you are left exausted because of the running length of this but also feeling a bit unsatisfied for the stories remain separate plot lines and so there is no large overall vision being painted on this oversize canvas just lots of little moments mostly downbeat in montage. As a mini series this might have become something on the order of Tales of the City and done with L.A. what Maupin did for S.F. but just too many underdevelped and underlinked story lines. That one story line with Moore and Modine&Archer and Ward in clown make-up is almost worth the time spent though.

Robert Altman's portrayal of Raymond Carver's collection of short stories is absolutely wonderful. Though long, time is needed to see the development of all nine stories that find a way to uniquely cross eachother. Altman used superior camera shooting to enhance the development of his characters and their stories. This is definately a movie to own for your self. Robert Downey Jr. along with the endless all-star cast really exemplifies Altman's attempt at making a great film about a great book.

Robert Altman's portrayal of Raymond Carver's collection of short stories is absolutely wonderful. Though long, time is needed to see the development of all nine stories that find a way to uniquely cross eachother. Altman used superior camera shooting to enhance the development of his characters and their stories. This is definately a movie to own for your self. Robert Downey Jr. along with the endless all-star cast really exemplifies Altman's attempt at making a great film about a great book.

I thought would not like the movie because I was not interested in the story I had to read. The book has a several stories going on at one time. The short story I read was well, rather dull. I read the story about the little boy who gets hit by the car on his birthday. The story is sad but boring. So since i thought the story was boring i figured the movie would put me to sleep also.
No, the movie was very interesting. I enjoyed the other stories much better than the one I had to read. When we watched the movie, our teacher explained that there are actually nine stories going on at once,so it will be hard to follow sometimes.
What most intersted me about the movie Short Talk, was that Raymond Carver was able to intertwine each story with another. In some way each character was affliated with another. The fact that he was able to do that made me want to watch the movie. I thought he was very talented to be able to have nine stories wrapped up in one.

Acting technique was good by a handful of actors, but the plot and character development were weak. No socially redeeming value to the story. Not entertaining or worth the rental.

No film director has ever shown us both the humor and pathos of American life and culture better than Robert Altman. "Short Cuts" ranks behind only "Nashville" in this respect. The underlying theme seems to be the relationship between parents and their children. (Two children die in the film while their parents are busy seeing to their own concerns.) Watch it several times. There's much too much here for only a single, casual viewing. And, for Dire Straits (Mark Knopfler) fans, his song "Fade to Black," from their final album is featured prominently.