Gosford Park (2001)

Director: Robert Altman
Writers:   Bob Balaban, Robert Altman, Julian Fellowes
Cast:       Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith, Helen Mirren

The lives of upstairs guests and downstairs servants at a party in 1932 in a country house in England as they investigate a murder involving one of them.

Apart from its period settings, I didn't know much about the film going into it. The murder happens only halfway through the film and this lack of knowledge about its plot made what came before even more enjoyable. It really looked as if a social studies kind of film with a 'Festen' twist to it. The behavioral examination of  decaying British aristocracy and the parallel world of their servants which also mimics the social hierarchy of their masters' were fascinating to look at  and the wise words of the Russian Duchess from the recently watched Peaky Blinders series three came in handy. Even though it takes a whodunit turn midway through the film, it doesn't toe the traditional lines as the investigating officer played by Stephen Fry is a bumbling idiot. We also don't care much about the whodunit aspect as we are interested much more in the way the characters behave rather than treating it as a puzzle that we should solve.

It is a great watch and all the films that I have seen of Robert Altman's have been great. Nashville is next on my list. The TV series 'Downtown Abbey' was initially  conceived as a spin-off show from this film and but later it ended up as a stand-alone one. Gosford Park has got a great ensemble cast and it must have been a big break for Clive Owen.

PS: British period drama are really a mystery to me. You just don't feel like watching them but if you can get past the first 15 minutes or so, it more often than not impresses you. Am not talking about shit like King's Speech but more in the vein of Atonement, Jane Eyre etc...

Rating: 4.5/5

The Long Goodbye (1973)

Director: Robert Altman
Writers:  Leigh Brackett, Raymond Chandler (Novel)
Cast:       Elliott Gould, Nina van Pallandt, Sterling Hayden

"I have two friends in the world. One is a cat. The other is a murderer". Detective Philip Marlowe tries to help a friend who is accused of murdering his wife.

The film is an adaptation of Raymond Chandler's 1953 novel with the same name. The time period was updated from 1950 to 1970s Hollywood and there were some significant changes to the original story when it was adapted to the screen, especially the ending. Philip Marlowe in the film is a throwback to older times where loyalty counted for something. In the time period the film is set in, Marlowe is kind of anachronistic being surrounded by people who are selfish and are out there only for themselves. The very first scene of the film establishes the character with him going out at three in the morning to get his cat the exact brand of cat food that it eats. Ultimately, it is loyalty that dictates how he reacts at the end when he pieces it all together to find out that he was just used. 

Even without the last sequence of the film, which is more of an exposition, I was able to kind of piece it all together except the money part. In that sense they could have done without the last act which is a significant change from the book, but it is in keeping with the loyalty theme of the film. The gangster Marty Augustine and his shenanigans were not there in the book but it is a worthy addition, in spite of the confusion it creates, because it is really brilliant. It kind of reminded me of Joe Pesci in Goodfellas.

It is another one of those films that I discovered through RAWK where a discussion on Polanski's 'Chinatown' was going on and 'The Long Goodbye' was cited as a superior version of it and it came ahead of it. I can see that argument. I love Chinatown but it now kind of feels like a bigger budget and more star studded version of the long goodbye. Elliott Gould is brilliant as Philip Marlowe and I also enjoyed Sterling Hayden as the drunk writer, Roger Wade.

Robert Altman usually makes film that are at least two and hours long but this one comes under two hours and it is a neo-noir classic. He is certainly someone who has influenced a lot of the directors who came after him as well many of his peers.If you are a fan of film noir or you liked Chinatown, then it is a must watch film.

Rating: 5/5

Short Cuts (1993)

Director: Robert Altman
Writers:  Robert Altman, Raymond Carver, Frank Barhydt
Cast:      Andie McDowell, Julianne Moore, Tim Robbins, Chris Penn, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Lemmon, Jennifer Jason Leigh

The day-to-day lives of a number of suburban Los Angeles residents.

I recently read someone describing Paul Thomas Anderson's 'Magnolia' as Short Cuts without all its heart. I kind of see why he described it in such a way because Short Cuts is much more raw whereas Magnolia looks a bit too polished and contrived with characters that we don't relate to as much. I think I have read PT Anderson citing Altman as a big influence on him and like the frog rain in Magnolia there is a similar earth quake sequence in Short Cuts but it doesn't amount to much which is kind of exactly the film going for. The characters in it comes from all social classes and not much stress is given to connecting them to a single big event. You just have to figure out how they are all related and it takes its time to establish that. I think this is so far the earliest film I have seen with the multiple characters multiple storyline angle I have seen, at least in English. Coming from a master director like Robert Altman, it is a masterpiece in this genre.  The themes explored is the whole artificiality of urban life in LA, alienation, meanness of modern society which many people cannot comes to terms with (unrealistic fuckers).

Film is three hours long but doesn't feel like it. My favorite Altman film so far but haven't seen Nashville yet.

Rating: 5/5

The Player (1992)

Director: Robert Altman
Writer:    Michael Tolkin
Cast:       Tim Robbins, Greta Scacchi, Fred Ward, Peter Gallaghar

Tim Robbins plays the role of Griffin Mill, a Hollywood studio executive, who is being sent death threats by a writer whose script he rejected. He proceeds to find out the identity of the writer leading to a bad outcome.

The film starts with a masterfully done seven minutes long  single take in which some of the characters laments about the MTV era fast cuts that are prevalent now in films. It follows several groups of people coming in and out of the scene. Rob Altman always had problems with the studio system with his films doing badly at box office despite critical success. He had largely worked outside the system and this film is one he made within the system poking fun at it. It has a strange vibe to it with the paranoia exhibited by the protagonist and many other characters who will be very comfortable in a Lynchian or a Coen universe. The comedy is really dark and of particular relevance these days as the studio system has gone even further down the drain with shitty remakes and franchises. 

There are around sixty actors making cameo appearances playing themselves. It was also good to see Jeremy Piven (Ari Gold) playing a studio exec.

Rating: 5/5