Robert Altman died today.
He was one of those great directors who made so many movies, especially so many small, intimate movies, that he was hard to keep track of. I’ve only seen a handful of his flicks–Thieves Like Us, Nashville, The Player, one or two others–but his movies are always remarkable for how much he allows the actors to create their own characters. Unless he’s directing a movie version of a cartoon (Popeye) or a satire (The Player), no character is ever allowed to be simply a type or a caricature; they are all idiosyncratic, real, flawed people. At the same time, though, I can’t say I’ve ever met anyone that’s named a Robert Altman movie among their most cherished favorites. His approach is so subtle, so humanistic that he is paradoxically a hard filmmaker to fall in love with.
Posted by myownworstcritic 
