Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean

Imperfect and a bit stagey, but this movie stays with you, I think.

Interesting character study, some great acting. I'm pretty sure that if it had a DVD release it would have a great reputation. Karen Black's casting is classic.

(Viewed on 11/15): Like Bergman and Bogdanovich, Altman is one of the few great directors of women. He seems to really understand the specific way they affect group dynamics, especially in male free spaces. This stagey film focuses on three women who reconvene on the anniversary of Dean's death to reminisce about their past, airing out their frustrations and grievances. Altman creates the illusion of space in a restricted setting and the ensemble cast give appealing performances.

Rather boring.

SPOILER! With its single location setting it has the making of a filmed play, but Altman brings some cinematic touches to it to make it more than that, mostly in how he uses a mirror to indicate time jumps. Above all this a movie in which the acting is central. SD plays the former club president, whose grasp of reality becomes under doubt. But it's a debuting Cher who steal every scene. It also surprised me by dealing with transgender issues in 1982, who is played with much nuanced by KB.

Breathless. Beyond the flawed, if light-years ahead-of-its time depiction of trans reality, it's a deep, stark invitation to the present's pain, trapped between nonexistent future and blurry past. Incredibly underrated?

James Dean, o Mito Sobrevive estreava há 40 anos no Festival de Montreal. O título brasileiro desse filme é tão ridículo que sempre tive preguiça de ver essa pequena pérola por causa dele. Os filmes teatrais do Altman nos anos 80 são os menos famosos, mas gosto bastante. Esse aqui usa um truque com os espelhos em cena sempre literalmente refletindo o passado que é bem bacana, o texto é excelente e aborda a questão trans com grande perspicácia para os padrões da época. BlurayRip RARBG.

"We're talking Robert Altman tonight." "After Popeye." http://illusionpodcast.blogspot.com/2015/01/episode-43-stage-adaptations-of-robert.html

It's challenging to keep up with, because the dialogue is so erratic and the characters talk about a history we aren't privy to, but I gradually fell in love with the sheer weirdness of it (while less conspicuously surreal than "3 Women"). It helps that the entire cast is so passionate. I couldn't feel a connection to the characters, but whether it's Graczyk's play or Altman's adaptation, it seems more concerned with creating an aesthetic than a narrative.

The film is basically little if not distended with surprises that seem like they came from a very heartfelt writer's legal pad. As the women largely rotate, literally, going at each other in monologue prose, spoken in deep-Texas country drawl, we learn of emotionally demanding surgeries and the difficult realities of Dennis' eponymous son. Altman is extraordinarily efficient at keeping things moving, even when you're unsure whether you're watching something occurring in 1975 or 1955.

About five minutes into this I was doubting whether or not this was for me. By the end, I was transfixed. Altman's direction is wonderful as is the star-studded cast. It is Karen Black's performance, however, that is unforgettable. This character and the other character's response to her is both dated and completely modern. It is extremely complex for something made in 1982 and I am in awe of it.