Short Cuts

Composite Score: 83.37

Starring: Andie MacDowell, Julianne Moore, Tim Robbins, Bruce Davison, Jack Lemmon, Zane Cassidy, Matthew Modine, Anne Archer, Fred Ward, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Chris Penn, Lili Taylor, Robert Downey Jr., Madeleine Stowe, Lily Tomlin, Tom Waits, Frances McDormand, Peter Gallagher, Jarrett Lennon, Annie Ross, and Lori Singer

Director: Robert Altman

Writers: Robert Altman and Frank Barhydt

Genres: Comedy, Drama

MPAA Rating: R for graphic sexual language and for nudity

Box Office: $6.11 million worldwide

Why should you Watch This Film?

                Short Cuts is Robert Altman’s film about the interconnected lives of several groups of Los Angeles residents, based on the short stories and poems of Raymond Carver. The film follows the stories of the Finnigans, a couple whose son is hit by a car and ends up in the hospital, the Wymans, a couple struggling with communication in their relationship due to suspicions of affairs, the Shepards, a cheating police officer and his wife who knows about it, the Kanes, a working-class couple who happens to get invited over for dinner with the Wymans at a concert, the Kaisers, a working-class couple who have lost some of the spark in their relationship due to the wife’s job as a call-girl, the Bushes, friends of the Kaisers who are house-sitting for some other friends while they are out of town, the Piggots, a low-income couple who stick it out despite their constant arguing, the Weatherses, an divorced couple who split custody of their young son, and the Trainers, a mother and daughter family of musicians who live next door to the Finnigans. The struggles of the families – often tied to infidelity and death – plays out over the course of the film’s three-hour runtime in a series of interactions that almost gives it the feel of a short miniseries. It’s an entertaining and generally well-acted way to fill an afternoon.

Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?

                There’s a level at which Short Cuts feels a little overtly womanizing in its content, with almost unnecessary amounts of female nudity bordering on season 1 Game of Thrones levels at times. I don’t know that we needed most of the nudity contained in the film to still catch the message of the film, to hold the audience’s attention, or to appreciate the performances of the actors. Julianne Moore and Madeleine Stowe give excellent performances that don’t necessitate their nude forms being put on display as well to validate them. I think Altman’s directorial choices here were a bit misguided and were playing a bit too heavily toward a specific type of male gaze and it takes something away from the film as a whole.

So wait, why should you Watch This Film?

                On the other hand, Short Cuts leans heavily on a few strong female performances to carry most of its content. As already mentioned, Julianne Moore and Madeleine Stowe give solid performances along with Andie MacDowell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Lily Tomlin, and Annie Ross. Moore’s repressed artist Marian plays well across from Matthew Modine as her reserved doctor husband, finally bringing all her frustrations to bear in a passionate third act argument where both air grievances and the truth comes out. Stowe’s harried housemother Sherri comes across as one of the saddest and yet most informed characters in the whole film, knowing full well about her husband’s infidelities and arriving at a point where they now entertain her rather than bother her – it’s a lingering performance to say the least. MacDowell’s Ann is every bit the worried mother that her story requires, caring too much for her son and coming across as a truly tragic figure by the film’s end. Leigh carries her story’s comedic weight as she takes care of two young children while talking on the phone as a call-girl at the same time – a picture of both a liberated and unliberated woman – it’s a performance that few could make work into something noble, but she manages to pull it off. Tomlin’s poor waitress Doreen carries some of the realest emotional weight in the film, desiring nothing more or less than human companionship, imperfect though its form may be – her ability to find the joy in her husband and her daughter despite the broken relationship between those two brings her simple story to a relatively satisfying (if slightly unresolved) conclusion. Ross’s performance as nightclub singer and mother Tess ties the film together with her constant harping on the past and inability to accept the reality in front of her; she feels at times like the audience’s outlet, on the outside looking in and not always to her benefit.

                Carried by a plethora of strong female performances, Altman’s everyday epic manages to find itself in a place worthy of greatness, telling stories that keep its audience connected and interested from beginning to end. The paradoxically womanizing treatment that the film also gives to its actresses takes something away from the film – oversexualizing what could be normally complex and compelling characters – but the overall takeaway from the film remains positive and something worth watching. Currently, this film is not available to stream anywhere, but if you come across a copy or can wait for its return to streaming, it’s worth checking out.