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A Prairie
Home Companion
DIR: Robert Altman • WRI: Garrison Keillor • PROD:
Robert Altman, Wren Arthur, Joshua Astrachan, Tony Judge, David
Levy • DOP: Edward Lachman • ED: Jacob Craycroft •
DES: Dina Goldman • CAST: Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones,
Garrison Keillor, Kevin Kline, Lindsay Lohan, Virginia Madsen,
John C. Reilly, Maya Rudolph, Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin
And so, in the Fitzgerald theatre of St Paul,
Minnesota, the curtain comes up for one final time on what could
almost be called one of the great American institutions of the
last thirty years.
Robert Altman died on November 20th last. He leaves behind him
a hugely impressive body of work, including several classics
which I don't need to mention. Altman was revered as a director
who worked within the confines of the mainstream, but on his
own terms. As he said himself on his relationship with Hollywood,
'We're not against each other. They sell shoes and I sell gloves.'
A Prairie Home Companion (the real one) is a popular
mix of old time music and humour, which is broadcast live and
goes out to millions in the US and abroad. A Prairie Home
Companion(The Altman version) is a bit too long in the tooth
for contemporary tastes. This night's broadcast is to be its
last, before the historic theatre becomes a new car park, and
the (mostly) aged ensemble is thrown into obscurity. It's down
to Garrison Keillor, Prairie's writer and host, to make
the last performance a memorable one. Keillor's screenplay blurs
the line between the real and fictional world by bringing to
life some of the characters he created for the show. We have
Kevin Kline as Guy Noir, a gumshoe who walked out of a Chandler
novel and into a job as theatre security. We have Dusty and
Lefty (Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly), a pair of rootin'
tootin' singing cowboys. Granted, the three are complete caricatures
in a supposedly real environment, but at least they are very,
very funny. Elsewhere, the Johnson sisters, Yolanda and Rhonda
(Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin) bustle in late to their dressing
room, Yolanda's daughter (Lindsay Lohan) in tow. Yolanda and
Rhonda were once part of a family country music group, long
disintegrated through circumstance and bad luck. The two sisters
found a new home within the Prairie troupe, but sadly,
that family is about to break apart as well.
Shot using multiple cameras, A Prairie Home Companion
has that sense of realism common to Altman's work. The cast
don't just say their lines; they converse properly, even if
that means talking over one another. And the musical numbers,
all recorded live, make it seem like a concert film at times.
Everyone in the ensemble cast pulls their weight, from Streep,
to Tommy Lee Jones, who steals his brief scenes as a bowtied
bringer of doom.
Like many great directors, Altman never got his hands on a best
director Oscar, always bypassed in favour of more conventional
fare (damn you A Beautiful Mind!). Upon receiving an
honorary Oscar back in February, a humbled Altman remarked 'I
love filmmaking. It has given me an entrée to the world
and the human condition, and for that I am grateful' This was
not meant to be his last film, but a higher power decreed that
it was. Though it will probably not be revered in the same way
as Nashville, A Prairie Home Companion is still
a very fine final chapter in the career of a very fine director.
And I didn't use the word maverick once.
Denis Fitzpatrick
Rated
TBC (see IFCO
website for details)
A Prairie Home Companion is released on 5th January 2007.
A
Prairie Home Companion – Official website
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