I love it. Very underrated. Altman was truer to the funny pages than any filmmaker ever has been with this movie--and in the best possible sense. It's not on the same level as Three Women, California Split, Nashville, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, of course, but it's very good at what it does.
Quintet, however, was exactly the huge fucking bomb that people thought it was at the time.
It's just so hard for me to get past Altman's flat, dead camerawork (with the backs of actors' heads when they're talking, leaden cutting, and constant zooms in and out), in every one of his movies. I acknowledge that Nashville is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece — a truly magnificent achievement — but that's the only time his cloddish style has been bearable to me.
I can't think of another major director from that generation with such uneven output -- there are plenty of Altman movies that are tedious, or sloppy, or boring. Honestly, Popeye's cast and Nilsson's songs really do it for me. I also liked the shaggy, 70s realism applied to something so cartoonish. But I get that it's divisive. However, Nashville is a remarkable work of art, his best, better than MASH or McCabe and Mrs. Miller, a movie that is as relevant now as then. Thanks for reading, Jordan.
I love it. Very underrated. Altman was truer to the funny pages than any filmmaker ever has been with this movie--and in the best possible sense. It's not on the same level as Three Women, California Split, Nashville, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, of course, but it's very good at what it does.
Quintet, however, was exactly the huge fucking bomb that people thought it was at the time.
It's just so hard for me to get past Altman's flat, dead camerawork (with the backs of actors' heads when they're talking, leaden cutting, and constant zooms in and out), in every one of his movies. I acknowledge that Nashville is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece — a truly magnificent achievement — but that's the only time his cloddish style has been bearable to me.
I can't think of another major director from that generation with such uneven output -- there are plenty of Altman movies that are tedious, or sloppy, or boring. Honestly, Popeye's cast and Nilsson's songs really do it for me. I also liked the shaggy, 70s realism applied to something so cartoonish. But I get that it's divisive. However, Nashville is a remarkable work of art, his best, better than MASH or McCabe and Mrs. Miller, a movie that is as relevant now as then. Thanks for reading, Jordan.