Wonderful, beautifully acted film about lives interweaving in Los Angeles against the backdrop of an invading poisonous bug. Ensemble cast is perfect, with standout performances by Robbins and Downey Jr. Altman succeeds in bringing us a film examining the coincidence of everyday life that we are too busy to notice. Shows a keen sense for relationships and the hardships of loss.
Plot summary
Many loosely connected characters cross paths in this film, based on the stories of Raymond Carver. Waitress Doreen Piggot accidentally runs into a boy with her car. Soon after walking away, the child lapses into a coma. While at the hospital, the boy's grandfather tells his son, Howard, about his past affairs. Meanwhile, a baker starts harassing the family when they fail to pick up the boy's birthday cake.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
May 18, 2019 at 12:48 AM
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4 stars
Robert Altman can do a lot with jerks and helpless characters.
Robert Altman's honorary Oscar win on Sunday brings to mind all his movies, including this one. "Short Cuts" seems like the sort of movie that would split even Robert Altman's hard-core fans. Most of the characters are either jerks (such as Tim Robbins's character) or completely helpless (such as Andie MacDowell's character). But the movie is an interesting look at the empty, isolated lives that people live in LA. As in all of Altman's movies, everyone's talking at once. There's one scene with Julianne Moore that makes you think "Oh God! They're actually filming that!"; you'll know it when you see it. Worth seeing, although I wouldn't call this one of Altman's best. Also starring Bruce Davison, Jack Lemmon, Matthew Modine, Anne Archer, Fred Ward, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Madeline Stowe, Chris Penn, Lili Taylor, Robert Downey Jr, Lily Tomlin, and Tom Waits, plus guest appearances by Jerry Dunphy and Alex Trebek.