| "Nashville"
(1975) Nashville was directed by
Robert Altman and was a very daring experiment.
As a matter of fact, United Artists refused to
make it, saying it wasn't even a script. Altman
made it himself. It is a 2 hour and 29 minute
slice of life centering around the music industry
in Nashville in the mid 70's. It has no fewer
than 24 major characters who generally interact
with each other. This is right on the heels of
Watergate, the nations 200th birthday, the tail
end of Viet Nam, and the middle of a presidential
election year. One of the main characters is an
independent running for president who is never
seen on camera. It doesn't really have a plot, a
conclusion or resolution.
This movie was critically acclaimed, and the
critics who have written about this DVD release
are still as enthusiastic as they were in 1975.
Those who have commented at IMDB are also
enthralled by it, although it was not a
box-office success. With all due respect to the
critics and the films fans, I agree that it was a
daring piece of cinema, a slice of life Americana
told through an assortment of characters in
Nashville, and that it took a lot of cleaver
juggling to keep 24 major characters going the
entire time. What I don't understand is why 149
minutes with no plot, no likeable characters,
nothing special photographically, no conclusion,
and one good song (Oscar Winner I'm Easy by Keith
Carradine) all taking place in my least favorite
of the 7 decades I have lived in all or part of
is a good thing. Lily Tomlin provides a see
through after getting out of bed with Carradine,
and Karen Black is talked into stripping as part
of a political fund-raiser.
Thumbnails
Karen Black (1,
2,
3)
Lily Tomlin (1,
2)
"Par-delà
les nuages" (1995)
Par-delà les nuages (1995) (Beyond the
Clouds) is the final film in Michelangelo
Antonioni's remarkable career, and was recently
made available on region one DVD. It is a series
of four short stories tied together by the
premise that John Malkovich is a director looking
for a story for his next film. In the second one,
he plays the lead opposite Sophie Marceau. I
could accept being bald for a chance to romp with
a nude Sophie Marceau like he did. The first
story features Inés Sastre as a school teacher
and Kim Rossi-Stuart as a pump repairman who meet
by chance in a hotel and fall instantly in love,
but part without becoming intimate. Two years
later, they bump into each other and try again.
In the second tale, Malkovich pursues Marceau,
but changes his mind when he thinks about her
stabbing her father 12 times. It isn't that she
stabbed him, but Malkovich feels three times
would have been more than enough. The third tale
is a little more complex a married man meets an
irresistible young woman (Chiara Caselli) in a
cafe, and starts a lengthy affair with her (not
his first). His wife finally leaves him.
Meanwhile, she arrives to move into the apartment
she has rented, only to find that the husband of
the woman who rented it to her has been left in
the same state and for the same reasons she left
her own husband. In the final story, a young man
meets an attractive young woman on her way to
church, and tries to get together with her.
If you are the type who needs strong plot and
pace to enjoy a film, just skip the rest and go
to the pictures. This is not really about plot,
and has minimal dialogue. Rather, it is about
imagery, and exploring many aspects of love
connections that fade or fail completely. As
frequent Funhouse readers know, I am a sucker for
good imagery, and this film is full of amazing
locations, great lighting, and innovative camera
angles. The acting is top notch, without a single
bad performance. For me, Antonioni got this one
exactly right, and I enjoyed each of the 115
minutes. It does not hurt that we have full
frontal from Sophie Marceau (probably her best
exposure), Chiara Caselli, and an unknown
actress, and nice clear breasts from Inés
Sastre. There is far more exposure than I used in
the images below, and I also grabbed some amazing
atmosphere shots of the locations. All of the
frames are available in a Web gallery at www.scoopy.net/tuna
Thumbnails
Thumbnails
#2 Thumbnails
#3
Sophie Marceau (1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10,
11,
12,
13,
14,
15,
16,
17,
18,
19,
20,
21,
22)
Ines Sastre (1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10,
11,
12,
13,
14,
15,
16)
Chiara Caselli (1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10,
11,
12,
13,
14,
15,
16)
Unknown (1,
2,
3,
4)
|
