I loved this film. It's beautiful to watch (the cinematography is gorgeous), the music is very melancholic and does a wonderful job setting the mood of the film. I'd never seen a western that captured so well and so realistically the lives of regular townspeople and how they mingled and interacted with one another.
About the film itself, I'll say this: although there're some of the filmmaker's trademarks throughout the film (quirky and interesting characters, dark humor) , I found it to be the least Altmanesque of his movies in that it's much more linear and sequential and not a series of story lines coming together. The performances are nuanced and subtle, darkly humorous at times, and very realistic. The sheer aesthetic value of the film is immense; I found myself immediately drawn by the images and transported back to a West that truly seemed other-wordly as seen by these characters.
In short, what makes this film so different is not the story (which is entertaining, mind you) nor the performances (which are memorable), but how it depicts the West. It is in the capturing of that atmosphere and in transporting the viewer to that time and place that the film really shines.
This movie is listed as one of the 1001 to watch before you die; I can totally see why, and although I'm not planning to, If I did die I would do so knowing that my last movie-watching experience was a truly fulfilling one (which is more than I can say for several of the films listed in the book). I would recommend this movie for any fan of revisionist westerns, Robert Altman or slow-building, moody films; I wouldn't recommend it for anyone seeking an action-packed, shoot'em up kind of movie.
About the film itself, I'll say this: although there're some of the filmmaker's trademarks throughout the film (quirky and interesting characters, dark humor) , I found it to be the least Altmanesque of his movies in that it's much more linear and sequential and not a series of story lines coming together. The performances are nuanced and subtle, darkly humorous at times, and very realistic. The sheer aesthetic value of the film is immense; I found myself immediately drawn by the images and transported back to a West that truly seemed other-wordly as seen by these characters.
In short, what makes this film so different is not the story (which is entertaining, mind you) nor the performances (which are memorable), but how it depicts the West. It is in the capturing of that atmosphere and in transporting the viewer to that time and place that the film really shines.
This movie is listed as one of the 1001 to watch before you die; I can totally see why, and although I'm not planning to, If I did die I would do so knowing that my last movie-watching experience was a truly fulfilling one (which is more than I can say for several of the films listed in the book). I would recommend this movie for any fan of revisionist westerns, Robert Altman or slow-building, moody films; I wouldn't recommend it for anyone seeking an action-packed, shoot'em up kind of movie.