"Sometimes, when I take a look at you, I just keep looking and looking. I wanna feel your little body up against me so bad, I think I'm gonna bust... You're freezing my soul, that's what you're doing."
The story of a gambler and a prostitute who, in a remote settlement somewhere in the Wild West, manage an elite brothel in partnership, until capitalists far above their level interfere. Altman's revisionist western (or anti-western) is more of a life drama and tragic romance set in the Wild West than a western in the classical sense. The fight of heroic cowboys against evil and primitive Indians is replaced by the fight of anti-heroes, small entrepreneurs against corporate capital, and instead of good and bad guys, we have real convincing people with whom we can more easily identify. And the environment itself ceases to be a fairy-tale town on the prairie, instead of which Altman portrays the harsh living conditions of the American Northwest at the time. Everything in this film leaves a realistic impression, from the environment, the characters, and their development, the story itself, to the pace at which it takes place. And the strong emotion that permeates it is further enhanced by the beautiful songs of Leonard Cohen. If you are looking for magical landscapes, constant action and gunfights, heroes and their heroines, and the inevitable happy ending, this film is not for you. But if you like a solid drama that shows life as it really is and that does not hide the flaws of individuals and society under the carpet, you will enjoy it.
7,5/10
The story of a gambler and a prostitute who, in a remote settlement somewhere in the Wild West, manage an elite brothel in partnership, until capitalists far above their level interfere. Altman's revisionist western (or anti-western) is more of a life drama and tragic romance set in the Wild West than a western in the classical sense. The fight of heroic cowboys against evil and primitive Indians is replaced by the fight of anti-heroes, small entrepreneurs against corporate capital, and instead of good and bad guys, we have real convincing people with whom we can more easily identify. And the environment itself ceases to be a fairy-tale town on the prairie, instead of which Altman portrays the harsh living conditions of the American Northwest at the time. Everything in this film leaves a realistic impression, from the environment, the characters, and their development, the story itself, to the pace at which it takes place. And the strong emotion that permeates it is further enhanced by the beautiful songs of Leonard Cohen. If you are looking for magical landscapes, constant action and gunfights, heroes and their heroines, and the inevitable happy ending, this film is not for you. But if you like a solid drama that shows life as it really is and that does not hide the flaws of individuals and society under the carpet, you will enjoy it.
7,5/10