Robert Altman's work has a very distinctive style. Large casts, overlapping dialogue, and criticism of modern society are the three most prominent traits in his films. They are what give his films that unique "Altman" feel. When one of his films was successful at the box-office, it was because of that style. On the other hand, he had plenty of flops for the same reason; Altman's style seems to alienate audiences as often as it snares them. Why? That's a tricky question. You could make the case that the sprawling casts and layered dialogue added an air of reality to films like Nashville and The Long Goodbye, supporting his criticism, while the strange style discomforted audiences in his other films. I'm not going to bother backing that up since it doesn't matter for this post. The only thing that we need to agree on is that he used the same style in most of his films.
Next thing we need to establish is the popularity of his various films. I could look up box-office numbers for each film, adjust for inflation, and get more empirical data. That would be silly and ridiculous. Instead, I took a trip to IMDB.com and found this page, which conveniently lists the ratings of his movies. Those numbers will be a bit skewed because they represent the views of people who are interested enough to look up a movie and submit a rating. Even so, you can see that the ratings are spread evenly between about 5 to 8. Now glance at the dates - also evenly spread. The ratings seem to show that there wasn't a trend in the quality of his work, with as many good films and bad films spread evenly through his career.
To summarize, Robert Altman's filming style was fairly static throughout his career, and the reaction to his work was random. Here's what I conclude: he stuck to a style and rolled the dice with every project. He may not have thought of it that way, but that's what it comes down to. I hate to criticize a dead guy, especially one with years more experience in directing than I have in breathing, but that is a terrible way of doing anything. It's like putting all your money in the same slot machine because it paid off a few times last week.
In The Player, a film-writer insists on portraying "reality" before he sells out when the film flops. I interpreted this as Altman simultaneously criticizing Hollywood while defending his style of directing. While he does make a point, Altman's films aren't very "real" either - they're stylized. He isn't sticking up for realism or artistic integrity - he's just stubborn and defensive. Rather than experiment and grow, he planted his feet firmly in the ground and glared at the rest of the industry.
I loved The Long Goodbye. Nashville was striking. The Player was clever. But they don't reflect Robert Altman's talent - they reflect a few gems in an otherwise unremarkable pile of untouched potential.
To summarize, Robert Altman's filming style was fairly static throughout his career, and the reaction to his work was random. Here's what I conclude: he stuck to a style and rolled the dice with every project. He may not have thought of it that way, but that's what it comes down to. I hate to criticize a dead guy, especially one with years more experience in directing than I have in breathing, but that is a terrible way of doing anything. It's like putting all your money in the same slot machine because it paid off a few times last week.
In The Player, a film-writer insists on portraying "reality" before he sells out when the film flops. I interpreted this as Altman simultaneously criticizing Hollywood while defending his style of directing. While he does make a point, Altman's films aren't very "real" either - they're stylized. He isn't sticking up for realism or artistic integrity - he's just stubborn and defensive. Rather than experiment and grow, he planted his feet firmly in the ground and glared at the rest of the industry.
I loved The Long Goodbye. Nashville was striking. The Player was clever. But they don't reflect Robert Altman's talent - they reflect a few gems in an otherwise unremarkable pile of untouched potential.
