Shortcuts review

Number 563 on the top 1000 films of all time is Robert Altman’s comedy drama: Short Cuts. 

Short Cuts tells a slice of life story of a group of strangers in LA whose lives occasionally intersect. There is the Finnegan family consisting of TV personality Howard (Bruce Davison,) his wife Anne (Andie Mcdowell) and their son Casey. There is also the Wymans: Ralph (Matthew Modine) and Marian (Julianne Moore,) and not forgetting Marian’s sister, Sherri (Madeline Stowe) whose husband, cop Gene (Tim Robbins) is cheating on her. Chris Penn, Robert Downey Junior, Frances Mcdormand, Tom Waits and a whole host of others all co-star.

Shortcuts reminded me of other slice-of-life films like Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia or the repulsive Happiness – insert links. Just like Short Cuts which clocked in at a monstrous 188 minutes, Magnolia and Happiness are similarly epic in length. This is also matched by their huge ensemble casts including the likes of Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman and others I need to check. Through the very nature of slice-of-life films, you need interesting characters. They are absolutely essential for the plot to succeed. In this regard, Short Cuts wasn’t comparable to Magnolia at all, but at least it wasn’t disgusting like Happiness.

Unfortunately, Short Cuts did just lack the same interesting and memorable characters that films like Magnolia had. Tom Cruise was rightly nominated for an Oscar for his work in Magnolia. He was terrific, but I can’t really think of any equivalent performances in Short Cuts. Robert Altman landed a Best Director nod, but that was it for the Oscars. Although evidently the critics don’t agree with me as Short Cuts won Best Ensemble at the Golden Globes, Julianne Moore and Andi McDowell were nominated and Madeline Stowe received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar from the National Society of Film Critics.

That’s their prerogative. I still can’t think back to a certain character and definitively say this film was all the better with them in it.  Many of the characters blended into one with few exceptions. I don’t think Tim Robbins was particularly convincing as the alcoholic, antagonistic, adultering cop Gene…but maybe it’s because he was so damn good in films like the Shawshank Redemption or Mystic River where he played tragic heroes.

Alas I think Short Cuts was a film undone by its very premise. If you have a slice-of-life drama where the audience has no interest in the lives being portrayed, then you won’t have a very interesting film. That was the case here.

Mystic River review

 Number 347 on the top 1000 films of all time is Clint Eastwood's crime-drama 'Mystic River.'

Mystic River is based on the book of the same name by Denis Lehane. It opens on three twelve-year-old boys Jimmy, Sean and Dave as they are running amuck in 1970's Boston. The cops come and take away Dave. He isn't seen again until four days later alleging he was held prisoner and sexually assaulted. Fast-forward twenty-five years and the three friends have separated. Dave (Tim Robbins) is still living with his childhood trauma, Jimmy (Sean Penn) has become a petty crook and Sean (Kevin Bacon) is a copper. When Jimmy's nineteen-year-old daughter is murdered, and Dave becomes the number-one suspect, the three friends are thrown back together.

I've always said that Clint Eastwood is a better director than an actor. Nowhere is that more evident than here. Mystic River is a taut, tight thriller that grabs viewers by the throat in the first fifteen minutes, and refuses to let go. Mystic River rightly earned Eastwood a Best Director Oscar nod.

But Penn and Robbins won the best-actor and best-supporting actor Oscars. These were well-earned. Penn gave a powerful performance as the emotionally exhausted father desperately trying to solve the murder of his daughter. But Robbins was equally good if not better as Dave. Try as he might, he couldn't put the trauma of being assaulted as a boy behind him. Becoming the number-one suspect does nothing to help his deteriorating psyche. And Robbins brought all this to the role and more.

Even Kevin Bacon surprised me. Granted, I haven't seen him in that much, but I've never rated him as an actor. Yet he brought an excellent maturity to the role. Out of the three friends, he's managed to put the childhood trauma behind him. However, also out of the three friends, he receives the least development and screentime. It is said that he has pushed away his wife in his efforts to overcome his trauma, but this plot idea wasn't as fully-explored as it could have been. When the two eventually reconciled, I couldn't have cared less.

I also thought Jimmy's relationship with his wife Annabeth (Laura Linney) wasn't well-portrayed. The actors didn't have the best chemistry. This was no better evidenced than at the film's conclusion. After Jimmy has dealt some street justice, she comes onto him in some weird faux-sex scene proclaiming him to be a king among men. It was all very cringy, but maybe it was supposed to be.

But I thoroughly enjoyed Mystic River. If only Clint Eastwood did more directing instead of acting.