One of the great writers of the 20th Century, Raymond Carver wrote poems and short stories that often featured characters that people can relate to. For film director Robert Altman, the work of Carver seems relevant to him and his ambitious, chaotic style of filmmaking. Following 1992's comeback film The Player after years of rejection and independence from Hollywood, Altman chose to make Carver stories into a film about 22 characters in ten different stories dealing with their lives and struggles in the film entitled Short Cuts.

Based on nine short stories and a poem by Carver, Short Cuts is a film about twenty-two people dealing with their own struggles and dreams in the matter of a few days in California. Directed by Altman with a script he co-wrote with Frank Barhydt, Short Cuts is easily Altman's most ambitious work to date that recalled such earlier triumphs as Nashville, M.A.S.H., and McCabe & Mrs. Miller. With an all-star cast that includes Lily Tomlin, Tim Robbins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Julianne Moore, Buck Henry, Peter Gallagher, Fred Ward, Anne Archer, Chris Penn, Robert Downey Jr., Huey Lewis, Jack Lemmon, Lyle Lovett, Andie MacDowell, Madeleine Stowe, Bruce Davison, Frances McDormand, Tom Waits, Annie Ross, Lori Singer, Lili Taylor, Dirk Blocker, Zane Cassidy, and Jarrett Lennon. Short Cuts is a sprawling, exuberant, ambitious masterpiece from Robert Altman.

It's a strange night in California where a helicopter pilot named Stormy Weathers (Peter Gallagher) is with a team of pilots dropping off pesticides to combat a group of insects onto the valleys and suburban homes. On that same night, a couple named the Wymans, Dr. Ralph Wyman (Matthew Modine) and artist Marian (Julianne Moore) are watching a string quintet featuring cellist Zoe (Lori Singer). Sitting next to the Wymans are the Kanes, Stuart (Fred Ward) and Claire (Anne Archer), who along with Marian notices Alex Trebek at the show watching. Marian invites the Kanes for a barbeque this coming Sunday. Meanwhile, Zoe's mother Tess Trainer (Annie Ross) is a jazz singer singing at a club where another couple named Bill (Robert Downey Jr.) and Honey Bush (Lily Taylor) are attending talking to a couple. Honey's mother Doreen (Lily Tomlin) works as a waitress at a diner where she is often attended to by her husband Earl (Tom Waits), who works as a limo driver. A report over the pesticides drops is made in a new editorial by Howard Finnigan (Bruce Davison) who watches his report with wife Ann (Andie MacDowell) and son Casey (Zane Cassidy).

During this tense night, an angry cop named Gene Shepard (Tim Robbins) leaves amidst the annoyance of his children and dog Suzy where he leaves his wife Sherri (Madeleine Stowe). Claiming he's going to a meeting, Gene is actually having an affair with a realtor named Betty (Frances McDormand) whose ex-husband is Stormy. Later in the morning, Stormy calls his son Chad (Jarrett Lennon) on wanting to visit to give his ex-wife her birthday present. Gene returns home hoping to get rid of the dog while the Finnigans are planning a birthday party this coming Saturday for Casey. A pool cleaner named Jerry Kaiser (Chris Penn) arrives to help clean the Finnigans' pool while being asked to come later by Tess. At the diner, Earl continues to harass his wife while Stuart along with a couple of his fishing buddies Vern Miller (Huey Lewis) and Gordon Johnson (Buck Henry) are going to a fishing trip. Stressed over Earl's alcoholism, Doreen leaves where she accidentally hits Casey with her car. Casey quickly recovers as Doreen is in shock and wanting to take him to his parents but is amazed that he's walking as he walks home.

While Howard is at work, Ann decides to order a cake to be designed by a local baker named Andy Bitkower (Lyle Lovett). Upon returning home, Ann finds her son home and in a state of shock until he is suddenly not breathing after what had happened. While out on a the fishing trip, Stuart, Vern, and Gordon make a discovery where they find a dead woman floating on a river. Unsure of what to do, the men continue their fishing while planning to make a report on their way back. After a tense visit from Stormy, Betty is annoyed at his presence while Stormy learns about a new boyfriend named Gene.

After taking Casey to the hospital, he is tended to by Dr. Wyman while the Finnigans received an unexpected visit from Howard's father Paul (Jack Lemmon). Claire pops in during the hospital visit as she works as a clown where she briefly talks to Wyman about the barbeque. After his quarrel with Doreen, Earl visits the jazz club where Tess is singing, who is having her own problems with her depressed daughter. Jerry meanwhile, is feeling frustrated for the neglect he's receiving from his wife Lois (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who works as a phone-sex operator. The only friend Jerry has is in Bill, who works as a make-up artist while his wife watches over their neighbor's house for a month.

Frustrated over Gene's attitude, Sherri visits her sister Marian where they talk about infidelity, which Sherri knows while Marian paints her in the nude. Sherri notices that Marian and Ralph are having their own problems. Back in the hospital, Paul befriends another couple in the hospital named the Willis, Knute (Robert DoQui) and Dora (Margery Bond) whose son is in surgery. Paul makes a confession to his son over his own infidelity as the two are hoping for Casey to recover. Ann, returns home where she finds herself harassed by strange phone calls. After a visit from Honey, Doreen remains in a state of shock over what happened to Casey but is relieved in thinking he might be OK. During a dinner with Betty, Gene learns that she will be out for the weekend and not wanting to believe it's true, Gene learns that Betty is out but her ex-husband knows of the affair.

After returning from the trip, Stuart tells Claire of what had happened and she was repulsed over his lack of action. The next day, the Kanes decide to go to the Wymans' party where just before their arrival, Ralph learns some shocking secrets from Marian. Tess meanwhile, continues to drink as she ignores her own daughter, who had just learn something tragic had happened. Jerry feels depressed over his wife's lack of physical comfort for him. Everything would come together in the next 24 hours of tragedy and moments of clarity.

Whereas most ensemble features, especially as ambitious as this one, tend to connect characters with one another and at times, tend to be contrived. For this film, Altman chooses to throw away the idea of a plot and just let a story or some scene tell itself. Definitely inspired by the works of Raymond Carver, Short Cuts is a film that doesn't have a lot of themes or any sense of morality or judgement. The whole film is really about people, ordinary people living their life through the disappointments, the daily struggles, and frustrations of what goes on. The characters are people that audiences can relate to in every way and form. It's the many characters that drive the film’s stories and how each group of characters relate to another group. It's all done in the Altman spirit of improvisation, overlapping dialogue, and intertwining moments that allows the audience to get to know the characters and the situations.

While some audiences might find some of the stories and characters' situation hard to follow, the payoff over what happens is fulfilling. From the story of Jerry being neglected by his wife to the story of a disgruntled baker being left with an expensive cake. Neglect is a small theme from a booze-drinking jazz singer who is unaware of her daughter's depression to a phone-sex operator not wanting to talk dirty to her husband. The characters of Tess and Lois aren't totally bad since Lois is trying to make money for her family while Tess is just depressed over environment. Infidelity is another issue whether it's Marian and Ralph in a very high-octane emotional scene, Gene's cheating and his awful lies that often entertain his wife, and the heartbreaking confession from Paul Finnigan telling his son what happened. All of these scenes through the script that Altman co-wrote and his direction is very observant. Even in some of the film's intense, emotional moments where Altman moves his camera to convey something that is powerful and not taking it too close to capture this emotional moment.

Cinematographer Walt Lloyd does an excellent job in capturing Los Angeles with his intimate, sprawling photography while making several scenes in the film's interior settings to be intimate and observant. Altman's late editor Geraldine Peroni does an amazing job in shifting the differing stories from one to another and connecting characters to another without making it too confusing. It's also very rhythmic to the energy and style of the film. Production designer Stephen Altman and art director Jerry Fleming do an excellent job in creating the look of the homes of the different characters and the personalities to represent each group. Costume designer John Hay also plays to the different atmosphere of the characters in the costumes from the hippie-like clothing of Honey Bush to the posh look that Marian wears. Sound editor Eliza Paley also goes for atmosphere in the film's opening sequences the sounds of helicopters flying over Los Angeles and in the places where people get together. Music composer Mark Isham brings a melodic, jazz driven score to play to the character of Tess while also doing some subtle, orchestral score work to convey the film's drama.

Finally, there’s the film's huge ensemble cast. Included in the cast are some small yet memorable performances from comedian Charles Rocket, Michael Beach and Andi Chapman as a couple who asks Honey Bush to watch over her house, Susie Cusack and Deborah Falconer as a couple of bicyclists, Margery Bond, and Nashville actor Robert DoQui. Jarrett Lennon is excellent as the Captain Planet-obsessed Chad Weathers and Zane Cassidy is great as Casey Finnigan. Lyle Lovett is wonderful as the disgruntled baker Bitkower while 80s pop singer Huey Lewis and writer Buck Henry are great as the fishing buddies Vern and Gordon, respectively.

Robert Downey Jr. is funny as the quirky, horny Bill Bush with Lily Taylor as the eccentric yet concerned Honey, who seems troubled by her own relationship towards her stepfather. Jennifer Jason Leigh is excellent as the phone-sex operator Lois who tries to maintain her family's security with the late Chris Penn giving a great performance as the neglected, sexually-frustrated Jerry.

Penn's Footloose co-star Lori Singer is great as the depressed, neglected Zoe who channels all of her emotions through her cello playing. Annie Ross is wonderful as the drunk jazz singer whose drinking is caused by her hatred for her dead husband while being unkind towards her daughter. Andie MacDowell is excellent in her role as Ann Finnigan whose life is in chaos over her son's life hanging by a thread and the strange phone calls she's getting. Bruce Davison is also excellent as Howard Finnigan whose misguided anger over his son's accident leads him into trouble while having to face his own demons.

The late yet legendary Jack Lemmon gives an amazing, scene-stealing performance as Paul Finnigan with a heartbreaking performance in which he tells his son about his infidelity and the anticipation of meeting his grandson for the first time. Anne Archer is wonderful as the loving wife Claire who is in shock over her husband's reaction towards a dead body while Fred Ward is great as Stuart who is unsure of what to do in seeing a dead body. Matthew Modine is excellent as the conservative yet consumed Dr. Ralph Wyman whose work and home life has been in conflict.

Julianne Moore delivers a knock-out performance as Marian Wyman who is forced to reveal her own dark secret to her husband in a very powerful scene that also required her to do it in very naked way. It's a great performance from Moore. Madeleine Stowe is funny as Marian's sister Sherri who is amused by her husband's lies and awareness that he cheats on her knowing it'll get the best of him. Tim Robbins is excellent as the mean, cheating Gene Shepard who is forced to question his own infidelity which starts to go nowhere.

Frances McDormand gives a fine yet angst-ridden performance as a woman whose affairs start to crumble with the appearance of her ex-husband as McDormand shows the kind of selfishness and loneliness her character brings. Peter Gallagher is very funny as Stormy Weathers who learns of his ex-wife's affairs and decides to take some funny actions towards it. Singer Tom Waits is wonderfully touching as the verbally-abusive alcoholic Earl whose own life has taken a turn while trying to deal with his marriage. Lily Tomlin is great as Doreen whose own life is in a change of direction after an incident that forces her to re-examine things while dealing with her own tumultuous life with Earl.

Short Cuts was released in late 1993 where the film was another surprise hit both critically and commercially while at the year's Venice Film Festival, the film won two top prizes. The Volpi Cup for its entire ensemble cast and a tie for the Golden Lion Award which Robert Altman shared with the late Krzysztof Kieslowski for his film Trois Coleurs: Bleu. After receiving another Oscar nomination for Best Director while the film also got praised for its ensemble, Altman would continue to find some success and acclaim well into the 1990s and beyond. Yet, Short Cuts remains one of Altman's great masterpieces thanks to a wonderful script, intertwining storylines, life-fulfilling characters, a great cast, and Altman's superb direction. Short Cuts, in the end, is truly one of the greatest films of the 1990s and a sprawling yet exuberant masterpiece from the late Robert Altman.

Robert Altman Films:

M.A.S.H. (1970):

http://www.epinions.com/content_328418823812

McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971):

http://www.epinions.com/content_163071692420

Nashville (1975):

http://www.epinions.com/content_332797152900

The Player (1992):

http://www.epinions.com/content_334755171972

Gosford Park (2001):

http://www.epinions.com/content_341042368132

A Prairie Home Companion (2006):

http://www.epinions.com/content_237343248004


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age