A Wedding (Directed by Robert Altman, 1978)
In whatever era this is, it seems that everything cool is co-opted, packaged and sold back to us eventually. We see this in culture and politics all of the time.What was once shocking becomes mainstream. Confrontational people and ideas are transformed into comfortable reminders of how courageous, outré or exciting we once were...and could be again if you act now! Anything messy, or inconvenient is discarded.
While I yell at the neighbourhood children for trespassing on my property, let me acknowledge that this is not even a particularly original, or curmudgeonly observation. If you are over a certain age you recognize this pattern. There are some people who are more difficult to re-package for Generation Zygote, however. Robert Altman is one of those people.
Altman's films like Mash, Nashville, The Player and Short Cuts were funny, messy, shocking and often anarchic takes on American society. It has been said that Altman was less about style and more about attitude. I am still trying to figure out what that attitude was- it's not merely "fuck you." There is something else running through his work that evades the easy maverick caricature of his reputation.
Altman probably existed at just the right time for a film-maker of his stripe. There was a brief period in Hollywood between the collapse of the studio system and the rise of our global media conglomerate overlords where strong-willed film-makers had more sway. He was certainly iconoclastic, but it probably limited his career. Altman kicked against the pricks over and over and over again.
With many of these works in mind, I finally got around to seeing one of his more overlooked films, A Wedding (1978). The film is about an enormous society wedding where everything goes wrong- from the minister blowing his lines at the ceremony to outbreaks of affairs, decades-old recrimination re-surfacing, drunken lunacy and even death.
Of course, the mishaps of the weekend uncovered deeper problems. The Corelli family represents Chicago's Old Money society, Old Money snobbery and possibly Old World connections of dubious merit. The nouveau riche Brenner clan have their own issues. Even the bride and groom have a few rather significant skeletons in their matrimonial closet.
Certainly, the institution of marriage is not treated with a lot of reverence in A Wedding. There is an interesting element of social class criticism here, as well, but the story and format is a bit glib to make any salient points.With nearly 50 characters the narrative often gets a little convoluted. Three decades on, a lot of the social commentary also feels somewhat dated and obvious. Yes, sure, upper middle class Americans are hypocritical, loud and tacky. Tell me something I don't know (and live).
Still, anything with the great Paul Dooley, Pat McCormick and Carol Burnett is going to work as a comedy even if everything else does not quite add up. You must also credit Altman for giving his actors (his many, many actors) the freedom to develop and improvise their characters. There are moments of spontaneity that rank with the best of his films.
I guess Altman's acceptance of chaos is what most stands out to me. I am not sure his working method has been duplicated by many other important directors. His anti-authoritarian streak would seem to extend to himself as he often ceded control as director and worked a lot more collaboratively than many other acclaimed film-makers.
Altman's films may sometimes go for low-hanging fruit, or exhibit a cruel streak in him, but there is nothing antiseptic, or packaged about his work. A Wedding may have a lot of the same elements as other Altman films, but it had little in common with anything else. It's worth a look if you can find it.
No comments:
Post a Comment