Director Robert Altman made more than thirty feature films and dozens of television episodes over the course of his career. The Altman retrospective currently showing at MoMA is a treasure trove for rediscovering Altman’s best known films (M*A*S*H, Nashville, Gosford Park) as well as introducing unreleased shorts and his little-known early work as a writer.
Every Altman fan has her or his own list of favorite films. For me, Altman’s use of music is always so innovative, original, and unprecedented that a few key films stand out from the crowd based on their soundtracks. Here are my top five Altman films based on their soundtracks:
1. Gosford Park (2001): The English heritage film meets an Agatha Christie murder mystery, combining an all-star ensemble cast and gorgeous location shooting with a tribute to Jean Renoir’s La Règle du Jeu (1939). Jeremy Northam plays the real-life British film star and composer Ivor Novello. Watch for the integration of Northam/Novello’s live performances of period songs with the central murder scene, in which the songs’ lyrics explain (in hindsight) who really committed the murder, and why.
2. Nashville (1975): Altman’s brilliant critique of American society in the aftermath of Vietnam and Watergate. Nashville stands as an excellent example of “Altmanesque” filmmaking, in which several separate story strands merge in the climactic final scene. Many, although not all, of the songs were provided by the cast, which includes Henry Gibson as pompous country music star Haven Hamilton, and the Oscar-nominated Lily Tomlin as the mother of two deaf children drawn into a relationship with sleazy rock star Tom Frank (Keith Carradine, whose song “I’m Easy” won the film’s sole Academy Award).
3. M*A*S*H (1970): Ok, I will admit it. It took me a long, long time to appreciate M*A*S*H. Growing up in 1970s Toronto, I couldn’t accept Donald Sutherland and Elliot Gould as Hawkeye Pierce and Trapper John — familiar characters from the weekly CBS TV series (but played by different actors). Looking back, I realize that M*A*S*H really did break all the rules of filmmaking in 1970, not least of which because it appealed to the anti-Vietnam generation. Like so many later Altman films, what appears to be a sloppy, improvised, slap-dash film is in fact sutured together through the brilliant, carefully edited use of Japanese-language jazz standards blared over the disembodied voice of the base’s loudspeaker.
4. McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971): Filmed outside of Vancouver, Altman’s reinvention of the Western genre stars Warren Beatty and Julie Christie. The film uses several of Leonard Cohen’s songs from his 1967 album The Songs of Leonard Cohen, allowing the songs to speak for often inarticulate characters. Watch for how the opening sequence, showing Beatty/McCabe riding into town, is closely choreographed to “The Stranger Song” as is Christie/Miller’s wordless monologue to “Winter Lady” later in the film — all to the breathtaking cinematography of Vilmos Zsigmond, who worked with Altman on Images (1972) and The Long Goodbye (1973) as well.
5. Aria (segment: “Les Boréades”) (1987): Made during Altman’s “exile” from Hollywood in the 1980s, this film combines short vignettes set to opera excerpts by veteran directors including Derek Jarman, Jean-Luc Godard, and Julien Temple. Altman’s contribution employs the music of 18th-century French composer Jean-Philippe Rameau. The sequence was a revelation to me personally, since it contains the only feature film documentation of Altman’s significant contributions to the world of opera. One of the first film directors to work on the opera stage, Altman directed a revolutionary production of Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress at the University of Michigan in the early 1980s: the work was restaged in France and used for the Aria Later, Altman collaborated with Pulitzer-Prize winning composer William Bolcom and librettist Arnold Weinstein to create new operas (McTeague, A Wedding) for the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Rounding out the top ten would be Short Cuts (1993), Kansas City (1996), The Long Goodbye (1973), California Split (1974), and Popeye (1980) — Robin Williams’ first film, and definitely an off-beat but entertaining musical.
Headline Image: Film. CC0 via Pixabay
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All summer long, you’ve heard how summer slide – the learning loss that occurs when kids are out of school – adds up for kids who don’t have access to books and other learning opportunities.
But there’s good news – many schools and organizations throughout the country are working hard to stop summer slide.
Take Kansas City, Missouri, for example. Over the last two summers, a coalition of KC-based organizations have been working with First Book to help reverse summer learning loss for kids in their community.
“More needs to be done to address the summer reading loss,” says Brent Schondelmeyer, communications director for LINC. “With First Book, the Kansas City Public Library, the Mid-County Public Library, Turn the Page KC and other local partners, we are taking an intentional approach to summer reading. And we will use our summer experience to expand how we support reading all year long.”
Last summer, First Book provided 10,000 high-quality books to elementary school children in Kansas City Public Schools. The books were distributed as part of a comprehensive reading program led by the Local Investment Corporation (LINC), the Kansas City Public Library and the mayor’s office.
The students who receive the books showed reading gains, instead of losses. More significantly, students from Title I schools who read over the summer saw higher improvements.
The great work being done in Kansas City confirms: access to books is key to reversing summer learning loss.
This summer, LINC’s game-changing program expanded. More than 30,000 books from the First Book Marketplace have been distributed to 72 schools, all in an effort to keep kids reading and learning while school’s out. The hope is that the gains made last year will continue and that more kids in the Kansas City area will be ready to start the school year off right.
Check out this video to learn more about what’s happening in Kansas City.
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The post How Kansas City Kids Beat Summer Slide appeared first on First Book Blog.
My heart hurts for the families and communities in Kansas City. It was a senseless crime. And it was crime that originated in a heart filled with hate. If you haven’t seen the news, you can see the story here: http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/14/us/kansas-jewish-center-shooting/ Thus, this my reply: RESPONSE TO FEAR AND HATRED: Winter can’t stop Spring from […]
Spent all of last week in Kansas City. It is a beautiful city (at least the limited part that I was in)-
I stayed several places (long, boring story), but the bulk of it was in the Marriott (on the left) while I attended the
Artist as Brand workshop, and the Aladdin (small, boutiquey hotel) on the right whilst I was attending
Spectrum Live.
Spectrum Live was held in this ginormous convention center across the way. The Artist as Brand workshop was ironically held at the Aladdin Hotel. :-)
The Marriott Hotel was adorned with colored lights and beautiful fountains, had room service and a Concierge's Lounge....
This was my view from my window -
- and this.
The Aladdin had....eclectic decor.... (at least all the 'fun kids' saying there. :-)
This was my view from my window -
guest column by Xánath Caraza
The Latino Writers Collective (LWC), Kansas City, MO, has been very active at the end of winter this year. As part of the Cuarta Página Reading Series, and in an attempt to contrast the long winter in Kansas City, the LWC has brought color, empowerment, poetry, fiction, and exquisite discussions through the presentations and words of Fred Arroyo and Demetria Martínez.
In chronological order, first, the LWC, in partnership with Kansas City’s Riverfront Reading Series, invited Fred Arroyo for the evening of February 26, 2010 at the Writers Place. Fred Arroyo is a professor at Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa. His novel, The Region of Lost Names (University of Arizona Press, 2008) was a finalist for the 2008 Premio Aztlán and a finalist for the 2008 One Brown Book, One Nation Reading Program. Arroyo read exerpts of his novel and his new short story A Case of Consolation.
The Writers Place had a full house the evening of the event. An exquisite Q&A session followed Arroyo’s reading to finalize the night with a book signing session. The next day, February 27, the LWC met with Arroyo again at the Writers Place for a friendly potluck and discussion session. LWC members were enthusiastic with their questions about habits needed to develop as a writer. Arroyo, a renaissance man himself, very graciously shared his own experiences in becoming a writer with LWC members.
“Inspiration is always welcome but developing your own rituals as a writer is an important part of becoming one” in Arroyo’s words. Miguel Morales, a LWC member, asked Arroyo about telling stories that have already been told many times in the past by others. What Arroyo shared with the LWC was that even while some of the experiences of Latinos are similar and may have been written before, Latino authors have to keep telling these stories because each author adds freshness and insight out of the unique experience and perspective of the author.
LWC members always enrich and grow as writers from the opportunity to exchange experiences with and listen to established authors such as Fred Arroyo and Demetria Martínez.
LWC’s next Cuarta Página event was the evening of March 3rd in collaboration with the wonderful
Touching poem, Donna. Thanks for writing from the heart about a touch issue.