For those who aren't hip to Altman's cinematic return of the 90s, it behooves you to explore. For starters, the beautiful women are quite hard to beat. Pictured above is Julian Moore as Marian. Shes naked. We also get Madeline Stowe, Anne Archer, Andie MacDowell, Lori Singer, and Frances MacDormand...as normal looking women. They aren't supposed to be hot, they just are. Perhaps it was the sex, but there are many scenes of these girls doing regular stuff. Conclusion: I like older women.
The helicopter was something of an obsession for me when I was younger. Another one of Altman's swan songs, MASH, also utilized helicopters. In Short Cuts, the machines seem to better equip the viewer with a sense of relation. Instantly the Medfly problem which the star studded cast is experiencing becomes one we experience also. Perhaps the continuity of the round and round of the blades has something to say about the perpetual intertwining of the movie also. Like in Vietnam, Altman's camera seems to also land in a drop zone- say perhaps Lily Tomlin and Tom Waits' screwtop trailer park, and then pick up to one of Robert Downey Jr.'s sex-crazed forays.
Short Cuts does take 3 hours to watch, but a full dose is rather necessary to keep all the quips fresh in your mind. As the movie progresses, even the most menial of characters are coupled with simple imagery. Captain Planet, face paint, pot, tits, motorcycles, coffee, and a slew of other things are piled on and piled on. Overarching unifiers, such as the earth quake and the TV specials, help to strengthen the bond. Altman, through carefully placed biopics, allow you to look, then take you back for a deeper inspection of the various happenstance. Please just go see this movie.
