IN MEMORIAM! A Prairie Home Companion (2006, dir. Robert Altman)

Finally got around to seeing this. Felt like it might be important now since Mr. Altman passed away. I'm gonna be honest. I never really GOT Robert Altman until I saw Gosford Park. I saw Mash, The Player, Popeye, McCabe & Mrs. Miller and Short Cuts because my boyfriend in high school was obsessed with him. I just didn't really enjoy the films at all. I mean, call me an idiot. But I just couldn't work up any enthusiasm about any of the characters introduced. The disjointed style of narrative coupled with very capable camera-work inspired a mild reverence for the man but not a rabid fascination with his body of work.

When I saw Gosford Park I was blown away. I think it was because the British upstairs/downstairs, murder mystery genre is one that I have secretly indulged myself in since I was a pre-teen. When he was working within a world that I was well-versed in I realized what was going on. Altman has an ability to basically slow a genre down. Meaning he can find the naturalism in cliched aesthetic. He allows himself to be one step behind the action because that is where the audience is. If Hitchcock was ahead of the viewer and if his work encourages anticipation, Altman lags behind encouraging you to LISTEN. He's been called an actor's director, but he's also an audience's director. Gosford Park stands as one of those films that as soon as it was done, I immediately watched it again. And again. For the rest of that weekend.

I can confidently say that I grew up with A Prairie Home Companion, Garrison Keiller's radio program. His milky baritone was a staple at family dinners and road trips. So once again, Altman is working with a genre to which I consider myself geniunely attached. I wish I could say that the film is as engaging as the radio show but the switch of mediums and the director's deteriorating health contribute to a fluffy if meditative film from two legendary storytellers. The main problem with the film is that the individual scenes are laden with a rather heavy-handed premise which is that the show is on the brink of cancellation and that death is stalking about the premises in a white trench coat.

My love of Gosford Park grew from the blatant disregard of the murder which in any other film in the genre would be the tantamount climax/turning point/plot twist. In A Prairie Home Companion larger conflicts overshadow the smaller scenes. In a way, the humanism rampant in Altman's other films is lost in this film. It's forsaken for a glossiness that seems appropriate given that it turned out to be Altman's last film. The production design and the pace and, especially, the music with the actors' live performance captured for posterity recalls a valentine. A pulsing plastic heart that can only mend momentary heartbreak. Unselfish performances coupled with even-handed direction and that milky baritone, I suppose it's a valentine intended for both fans of the show and fans of Altman. So it was intended for me. And Lord Knows I won't turn something like that down.

BOTTOM LINE: Worth seeing, especially for Altman fans. But if you're expecting a masterpiece, the film will not blow you away. Besides he's already made a handful.