Nashville

A powerful demonstration not only of one filmmaker's filmmaking abilities but also of how it is possible to make fun of America and still be American. It's unbelievable how many characters there are and how they stick together. Their fates intertwine, all in the spirit of country music, yet you can feel that something is wrong in the background and that nothing is working. It’s well shot. (18.10.2015)

In Altman’s classic fresco, the city of Nashville is shown as an absurd world of dreams, ambition, power, desires, broken hearts and tragic fates, as well as populated by people with all of their dark and light sides and difficult life stories. The brilliance of the film’s narrative consists in the fact that it manages to encompass and interweave a tremendous number of characters and locations, while constantly drawing in and fascinating viewers. The basis for this is the excellent screenplay, which takes an absolutely empathetic approaches to all of the characters in the country milieu, whether fallen or beautiful, even if it doesn’t avert its gaze from the shadowy and absurd aspects of their lives and personalities. (03.07.2022)

The plot can be characterized in one sentence, but it can take a whole evening to fully grasp it. And you are not mistaken, two and a half hours of country music - and two and a half hours of Nashville is a fascinating film. There's no noble boredom or episodic social critique here, as Altman's work is sometimes referred to. Here, it really is enough to just open your eyes. (09.06.2006)