Short Cuts

1993 / Director. Robert Altman.

Robert Altman's career spanned a prolific 50+ years and there is no question that he defies the word masterpiece by having more than one. Short Cuts is one of them. In the later years of his career (90s onwards) he found a niche and became renowned for putting together enormous ensemble casts. At times he added famous faces just for the sake of it and a lot of these films became convoluted and pretentious and in the case of Pret-a-Porter it became a game of "spot the celeb". With Short Cuts he was able to masterfully create a strong, complex, moving and dramatic multilayer of intertwining stories while juggling one of his most impressive lineup of stars ever. Each of the 20+ featured characters have their own story and they all cross paths in clever and surprising ways. It's just brilliant. At 3 hours long, its such a compelling experience that the time slips away. One of the films earliest scenes as well as its final scene are amongst the most chilling I've seen. The players are all impressive with Tom Waits, Lyle Lovett and Bruce Davison stealing the show, in my opinion. What a film maker. What a film. 

---