Short Cuts

6 out of 7

Short Cuts (1993), starring an ensemble cast and under the direction of Robert Altman, tries to integrate a number of Raymond Carver short stories (mostly about love and relationships of all sorts) into one cogent film, lapsing over a three-to-four day period…and it works!

Serving as an obvious precursor and inspiration for P.T. Anderson’s Magnolia, Short Cuts earns its name by never leaving one scene on the screen for more than 90 seconds (with maybe one or two exceptions). While I didn’t actually time out each scene (which would be quite the task at 3 hours and 7 minutes for the film), it is obvious that Altman is going to tell many stories at the same time by jumping from one to the other. And while it sounds nauseating (literally) to jump so quickly between shots and stories, after 15 minutes, the pacing makes sense and the stories unravel nicely.

Altman treats Carver’s stories with respect, taking some liberties but never trying to re-write his chosen muse. He also picks some of the best stories of Carver’s to use.

The actors are almost too many to list (click the title of this review and it will link you to the Internet Movie Database’s listing for the film and you can see for yourself), but it is enough to say that everyone plays their parts wonderfully. Even Lyle Lovett does well.

What makes this film so important is that it legitimizes film as a vehicle for story-telling. While most would not want to fight for such an established cause, it is important to remember that many films can work just as well as novels or plays and, if this is so, why tell a tale on film. Short Cuts’ story can only work on film. The logistics are not there for a play version. Nor could a novel be written with the same quick jumps of character, dialogue and plot. Any reader would become annoyed and probably more than a little confused. Yet, since the medium benefits from face, voices, and body language of these characters, which aid the viewer in remembering each story that is going on, Short Cuts works.

Any more of an in-depth review than this might accidentally turn into a Master’s Thesis, so I too will keep things short (in the spirit of the film) and just say: Watch this film.