Altman

By: Louis

“I look at film as closer to a painting or a piece of music; it’s an impression… an impression of character and total atmosphere… The attempt is to enlist an audience emotionally, not intellectually”

Altman is one of my favourite American directors. His films range from the expansive vignette city scopes of Nashville and Short Cuts to the schizophrenic surrealism of Images and 3 Women.

Throughout his career he demonstrated a refusal to construct straight forward narratives, instead favouring fragmentedstories. He preferred loose ends to satisfying, singular conclusions (he cut scenes out of Gosford Park which explained character motivation). Should we try to explain motivations, for Altman “there doesn’t have to be one”.

• 01
  3 Women
  Robert Altman
• 02
  Short Cuts
  Robert Altman
• 03
  Nashville
  Robert Altman
• 04
  Images
  Robert Altman
• 05
  M*A*S*H
  Robert Altman
• 06
  The Long Goodbye
  Robert Altman
• 07
  McCabe & Mrs. Miller
  Robert Altman
• 08
  California Split
  Robert Altman
• 09
  The Player
  Robert Altman
• 10
  A Wedding
  Robert Altman