Altman

Altman is the most standard kind of documentary portrait whose leitmotif is the search for an answer to the question of what the adjective “Altmanesque” means. The one-sentence definitions from the mouths of Altman’s collaborators will come in handy for the journalists who will someday write a profile of the director (Keith Carradine’s definition – “showing Americans who we are” – appeals to me). Otherwise, the film doesn’t provide much more information than Wikipedia, but it does succeed in coherently covering Altman’s whole career, from his television beginnings, through the commercial and artistic fiasco of Popeye (the blame for which partially falls on unfavourable weather), to the difficulty of raising money for Gosford Park, without lingering on just a select few films. Due to the fact that most of the talking is done by Altman himself and those close to him, it is not surprising that he is depicted as a visionary filmmaker and a basically flawless nice guy who, however, preferred his film family to his real family at the height of his career, though he made up for that at the end of his life. The brisk pace, maintained by the standard combination of talking heads and footage from family videos and from filming (directly from the films more often than not), lets up only in the last third, which is similarly tired as Altman himself was at the end of his life. Of the American critics, only Pauline Kael is quoted at length; otherwise, the attempt to describe Altman’s style is limited to highlighting constituent characteristics (observational realism, overlapping dialogue, “casual” narration) with no effort to provide a clarifying summary. It’s not suitable for release in cinemas, but it serves well as a DVD bonus feature that will make you recall some of the director’s films (I will perhaps watch The Long Goodbye and Short Cuts again sometime soon). 65% (05/08/2015)