Friday, April 18, 2008

Altman

Robert Altman was one of the most interesting directors I've ever encountered. The way he presented a story and the way he describes his story are all very original to just him. He never likes to use conventional techniques in his movies, loving new camera movements, interesting plots, and he is the only director I know of that has extras talking over the main characters in dialog. The only thing that I really didn't like about Altman was the plots in his movies. Sometimes it felt like he didn't have any plot at all, like in Nashville, which I thought was one of the worst movies I've ever seen. I think he goes for too much satire during his films and that is what makes them so disconnected at times.
The part of Altman's film making that I really did like though was the way he incorporated the overlapping of conversations. I thought that brought a sense of reality to the movies that I had never seen before. He made his movies such that it never was necessary to know exactly what was being said, but the way it was being said. Altman uses his techniques so that the audience has to watch the scene as a whole, as one free flowing entity so that you can understand what Altman is trying to say.

4 comments:

AJ R said...

John, interesting thoughts. I agree with u in your ideas about how Altman loves useing new techniques and interesting plots. However it would be more interesting if u had a picture, it looks like u wrote it up in first hour or something. good work though.

Elliot H said...

So i hate the internet my other comment got deleted, and since i don't want to type it again. 1) I agree with aj that it sounds like your wrote it in 1st hour 2) You use a lot of superlatives 3) I agree that multiple speakers does give it a more realistic feel

Awesometown Blogett said...

I liked how altman forced the viewer to be more than just a passive viewer as well, but i also agree that his plots with all of the characters gets confusing and kind of boring.

Brody S said...

Agreed johny, I thought it was interesting to hear multiple conversations going on at the same time in a film, usually you dont see that.