‘Let’s show them what we’re made of…’
Master director Robert Altman is a giant of American cinema. A maestro whose influence stretches far and wide. And yet, I remain relatively ignorant to most of his work. MASH, Popeye and The Long Goodbye are just three of Altman’s vast oeuvre that I have never seen. In truly contrarian fashion, I decided to disregard his best known work for a trip to Nashville, I wasn’t to be disappointed…
Against the backdrop of a political rally, a disparate and desperate selection of country musicians, groupies and hangers on interact across a five day period. Burned out homecoming queen Barbara Jean (Ronee Blakely) struggles to cope in the aftermath of a car accident. A talentless waitress (Gwen Welles) has to come to terms with her own inadequacies. A BBC reporter ties the stories together as well as the various live performances of tracks written specifically for the movie. There is a lot to unpack here.
To return to Altman, Nashville is quite unlike any other movie I have seen in terms of plotting, story structure and character development. Closer to something like Band of Brothers in the way that the film follows various characters throughout the story without really focusing on any of them, Nashville is a meandering, confusing two hours and 40 minutes that only really comes into its own during the final hour. Altman allows the audience a little time to get to know his vast cast of characters before turning the screw in the final act. Even in these less focussed moments, I found Nashville to be strangely hypnotic. A fascinating tableau of American society in the 70s.
Nashville won’t be for everyone but there is no doubting that this is the work of a unique cinematic voice. Allow yourself to get lost in Nashville as I did and you will soon find yourself swept along with a film that is so much more than just a time capsule.