Short Cuts

Robert Altman was rising from the dead for the fourth or fifth time when he finally got the green light to make Short Cuts (following a comeback fueled by the success of his previous film The Player) and he took full advantage of that opportunity by returning to his best terrain, the multi-character, multi-story ensemble drama that helped cement his reputation in the 1970s. While his take on the work of Raymond Carver might have upset the corduroy-jacket-with-patches-on-the-elbows creative writing instructors, those of us who love character-based, off-kilter filmmaking enjoyed the way that Altman brought a collection of oddball Angelinos to life with his cynical (yet humane) style.

The Carver stories serve as the spine, if not the heart, of Altman's winding narrative. An unfaithful cop, grieving parents, morally questionable fishermen, a phone-sex operator, a trailer-park couple, and a recent divorcee enjoying her newfound sexual freedom interact with each other and several other oddballs in a never-ending quest for meaning. Altman has been accused of cynical condescension on numerous occasions but I challenge you not to feel your heart break a little for Tom Waits as he asks his waitress wife Lily Tomlin for an egg sandwich "with a broke yolk".

Criterion serves up its by now par-for-the-course, high-end transfer in widescreen (2.35:1), allowing you to follow Altman's crowded staging in all its effective glory but the extras show them to continuing to push the envelope. A reprint of the movie tie-in book allows you to experience the Carver tales in their original, powerful form, and a documentary on Carver (from a PBS special) gives you a deeper appreciation of the other visionary involved in this project (albeit a ghostly one, since he had passed away by the time cameras started rolling on the film). The feature-length making-of doc is the usual talking head, butt-kissing thing you find on DVDs but it's made-up-for by a candid, enjoyable conversation between co-star Tim Robbins and director Altman in which the method behind his (oft-discussed) madness is examined. Altman fans are currently enjoying a big surge in DVD availability (California Split! Yeah, baby!) but Short Cuts is a must-have, as well as an effective introduction to anyone who has yet to be "Altmanized!" -- Christopher Hyatt