REVIEW: ‘Short Cuts’ (1993)
Posted On: Thursday, September 3rd, 2009 | Posted By: Alex Carlson
Grade: A
The darker side of Los Angeles is revealed in Robert Altman’s ensemble film Short Cuts. The film is a collection of Raymond Carver short stories with an all-star cast that includes seasoned veterans like Jack Lemmon and stars who were relatively new to the game like Julianne Moore and Andie MacDowell. The film is made up of 7 to 8 different story lines that are all connected by the dangers and lies of Los Angeles and masterfully woven by the brilliant auteur Robert Altman.
Short Cuts clocks in at just over three hours, but the way Altman is able to put so much story in each individual shot makes the time seem to fly by. Altman is known as one of the all-time masters of the ensemble film and this movie may be the best argument for giving him that title.
The film opens with a half-dozen helicopters spraying down Los Angeles with pesticides that will combat the medfly outbreak that has occurred recently. The spray creates paranoia amongst the residents of L.A. because of the dangerous side effects that the pesticides are rumored to contain. As a dramatic device the spraying helicopters provide a connected jumping point for all of the individual stories to leap off of. They also work to symbolize the pithy worries that the characters have while their personal struggles are so much more extreme.
The key to a great ensemble film is excellent casting and this film has a cast that is about perfect. The story that Altman later described as the “main thread that all the others hang off” features Andie MacDowell and Bruce Davison as a couple whose son has just been hit by a car. Each other actor fits their part perfectly. There is Jack Lemmon as Davison’s estranged father trying to make amends at an awkward time; Julianne Moore and Matthew Modine as a wealthy couple coping with past infidelity; Anne Archer as a hapless clown and her husband played by Fred Ward who cares more about fishing than reporting a dead body; Jennifer Jason Leigh as a phone sex operator with kids; Chris Penn and Robert Downey, Jr. who are secretly violent and perverted; Tim Robbins as a narcissistic police officer and his wife, the neglected Madeleine Stowe; Lily Tomlin as a waitress with lost dreams and her husband the alcoholic, but loving Tom Waits; Frances McDormand as a bitter divorcee and Peter Galagher as her jealous and comically vengeful ex-husband; and Annie Ross and Lori Singer as mother and daughter musicians in a busted relationship. Throw in Lyle Lovett and Huey Lewis as complements to the ensemble and you’ve got as diverse a cast as can be.
Each story line has its own secrets and mysteries, and there is not a single one that is unwelcome when the film cuts back to it. Where the film succeeds the most is by giving each character such depth that, as a viewer, you are left anticipating each connection. Short Cuts could not be characterized as a film that portrays the downfall of humankind, because at the beginning many of them are already at or near rock-bottom. Los Angeles acts as a proxy for America, and each families secrets and nightmares are relevant.
All of the performances are fantastic, but the two that standout the most are Jack Lemmon and Andie MacDowell. Lemmon shines in a monologue in which he attempts to redeem himself to his son, delivered in such a reflective, but mysterious way that you never know how sincere he actually is. MacDowell is great as the devastated mother who is haunted by ghosts both real and imagined.
Altman brilliantly uses water as a main thematic element that contains the secrets of so many of the characters. A body is discovered floating in the water, then left for days; a woman skinny-dips while a perverted man secretly watches, another woman is obsessed with the fish-tank in a house that is not her own – these examples and more show Altman’s use of water. It is appropriately ironic because water, just like the secrets of the characters in the film, you can see right through.
Also characteristically Altman in the film is the use of casual nudity. Several of the men and women characters appear naked during important scenes from the bottomless Julianne Moore to the brief glimpse of Frances McDormand. This emphasizes that character’s vulnerability, but also is used to highlight the revealing of their secrets. For Altman – nakedness equals truth.
This film ranks up there with Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights as the best uses of an ensemble cast in a film. Don’t be put off by the unusually long running time because Robert Altman’s Short Cuts is a 3-hour endeavor that everybody should undertake.
