AFI Top 100: #59
When I chose this film to watch from my list of remaining entries into the AFI's Top 100 list, I was definitely not expecting one of its main, political plots to be so comparable to today. Robert Altman's Nashville is a grand, massive-in-scale film with unexpected, contemporary relevance that unfortunately fails to really deliver on the epic qualities it promises. While I began this film with only the knowledge that it was partially about the country music scene of the 1970s, I was surprised by how many different subplots and character arcs were introduced. That is where I got lost, however, as this film tries to be so much all at once but at the same time, is unable to really say anything at all. The writing was ill-assorted, the performances were incredibly forgettable, and the direction made me feel like I was an unknowing bystander in these characters' lives. Even though the individual themes it touches on were done well and the music was extraordinary, I just could not become engaged with this story in the slightest.
Over the course of five days, a hodgepodge group of Americans travels to the famous city of Nashville, Tennessee to attend a rally for Hal Phillip Walker (Thomas Hal Phillips) as he is the Replacement Party candidate for the office of president. As their stories begin to intersect before the political convention, a slice of American life is explored through their different careers, upbringings, and shared love of country music. For a film that explores how music and its relating culture affect the careers and personalities of people, it does so in a surprising fashion. The script from Joan Tewkesbury is fairly mediocre but if there is one thing it does well, it's the inclusion of music and contrasting behaviors. Nashville touches on a lot of great themes including political persuasion, celebrity culture, and sexual harassment in the music industry but the writing never attempted to make amends for many of its subplots. The problem with this film is that it also never really attaches itself to one overarching message and becomes so incredibly mismanaged. The event of the political rally was sitting right there and while I understand that Tewkesbury might not have wanted to make this an overtly political film, I think the film would have benefitted from the convention evolving into something more than just a setting for the narrative's conclusion. It was such a compelling story point to see all of the various walks of life come together in the city of Nashville but the sheer amount of characters and their accompanying subplots quickly became overwhelming. The scale of this film grew so large to the point that I became disconnected from the characters arcs and the story proves to be much more than I could handle. Yes, Altman was deliriously determined to tell this story in a chaotic manner that it almost requires but that never changed the fact that I was consistently lost and reaching for any semblance of clarity. In fact, this cast is so large that it almost becomes the Avengers of 1970s Hollywood Renaissance film stars and because of the lack of cohesion when it came to their characters, this film quickly devolved into a game of "spot the celebrity cameo."
The direction from Altman also shows a lack of understanding of how to satisfactorily tell a story of this magnitude. Like I had previously mentioned, this movie is so large and does not succeed in tackling so many different things that it comes off as a half-assed attempt to import every little piece of 1970s country culture. I truly think that Altman does better with a group-oriented film setting if the characters he is handling are prioritized into one, central goal. The obvious example being M*A*S*H, as the group of military medics are placed into a comedy setting and work to waste the days away. Nashville, on the other hand, tries to be too many different genres at once and never quite settles on one tone. There is plenty of drama, sex, politics, and a dash of comedy, but never once would I be able to place a genre upon this movie. Which would not necessarily be bad if it had done anything new with the story but instead, the writing just throws all the plots together and hopes for the best when the characters are able to physically be in the same place at the end. One of my main issues with Altman's direction, on top of not hooking me into the story, is that I have never felt more omniscient than I have with this film. Typically, dramas are supposed to get its audience engaged with the story and really relate to and connect with the main characters but I could not help but feel an intensely strong disconnect between me and the leads. I could genuinely sense the screen between me and this story and that is not what you want your audiences to be doing when trying to bring out any bit of emotional attachment. I felt as if I were peeking into the lives of these characters without any intersection and because of how distant I was from their conflicts, it never felt personal. This might also have to do with the cinematography from Paul Lohmann, which was very hard to look at. Nashville, despite its patriotic and beautiful atmosphere, is shot terribly and every scene felt so awkward to look at. I did not appreciate the camerawork and the unsettling movements that Lohmann opted to use, as it felt like a half-baked documentary more than a narrative feature. But hey, at least we got some good music and I firmly believe that Keith Carradine's Oscar-winning performance of "I'm Easy" was the best part of it all.
Robert Altman's Nashville is a semi-classic film that I have never really learned about, nor have I heard anyone praise or discuss. Which is why it came as a surprise to me that a film I thought would be a sleeper hit with a cast so grand ended up being such a convoluted mess. There was so much potential for this movie to be a country music classic and one that showcased all of the best aspects of Altman's directorial style but I just think his goal of making this massive style of narrative proved to be too ambitious. I can plainly see why critics love this and why it has become memorable but the glaring issues with the direction and writing were too prominent for me to ignore.
My Rating: ★★½
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