Short Cuts (1993)

Directed by: Robert Altman | 187 minutes | drama | Actors: Andie MacDowell, Bruce Davison, Jack Lemmon, Lane Cassidy, Julianne Moore, Matthew Modine, Anne Archer, Fred Ward, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Chris Penn, Joseph C. Hopkins, Josette Maccario, Lili Taylor, Robert Downey Jr., Madeleine Stowe, Tim Robbins, Cassie Friel, Dustin Friel, Austin Friel, Lily Tomlin, Tom Waits, Frances McDormand, Peter Gallagher, Jarrett Lennon, Annie Ross, Lori Singer, Lyle Lovett, Buck Henry, Huey Lewis

After ‘American Beauty’ and ‘Magnolia’, few today will be shocked by ‘Short Cuts’, which opened doors for this and other Hollywood productions about the dark sides of life. Interesting to see how quality American drama has evolved since 1993. At the time, director Robert Altman reportedly had great difficulty getting producers interested in his cynical short story collage about human incapacity.

A positive message is therefore hard to find in ‘Short Cuts’. Altman lures us into the living rooms of late twentieth-century Los Angeles to leave us with the idea that the end of time is near: phone sex in front of the kids; adultery, suicide, binge drinking and especially lovelessness. Ah, the good old nineties

Eight story lines are reviewed, in which the main characters are mainly stuck in their basic relationships (husband-wife, parent-child). They are recognizable situations, with selfishness and miscommunication as the common thread. The men in ‘Short Cuts’ are emotionally inept, weak and aggressive and the women neurotic and passive.

The similarities with Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘Magnolia’ are there for the taking. Altman’s example work is more distant, more sketchy and contains more humor. The performances of Tim Robbins as a dastardly police officer and those of Tom Waits as a lame drunk are nice. The more superficial storylines are offset by staggeringly pointed observations in the good ones, culminating in the scene where alcoholic jazz singer Tess Trainer (Annie Ross) taunts her attention-seeking daughter (Lori Singer) for being unimpressed by her private suicide attempt. -swimming pool.

Separately, none of the story strands would be strong enough to carry a movie. Altman impresses especially with his craftsmanship to make it one whole. He introduces the individual situations briefly and playfully, letting them meet every now and then, slowly grow grim and eventually escalate, sandwiched between two alienating events that serve as context: the spraying of insecticide over Los Angeles and an earthquake. A strongly cast group of understated top actors helps Altman find the right tone and the structure of the film, despite its length and size, never leads to boredom and confusion. However, the main merit of ‘Short Cuts’ is that it was the cradle of a quality leap in Hollywood.