Altman is very good at looking at Americana with a twinkle in the eye. He dished out black comedies and social satires of varying dimensions: "MASH" was a spoof on Americans at war, "Nashville" poked fun at both politics and music, "A wedding" was a mature yet comic perspective of marriage as a social event. "Brewster McCloud" belongs to this group but lacks the finesse of the other four.
Altman's "Brewster McCloud" alternates from the mature comedy to low comedy. 'Mature' is his portrayal of the character Abraham Wright (Stacy Keach), a wheelchair borne landlord who fleeces the poor. 'Low' is the behavior of Wright towards his nurses at his old-age home. Altman swings from looking at what is interesting--shoplifting--to the bizarre--a widow getting married to her husband's colleague--something that "Nashville" and "A wedding" rarely did.
Look at the film closely and little is real. The black comedy almost borders on satire--a lecturer who looks and behaves like the birds he describes, an exaggerated masturbation scene, a wheelchair moving faster than cars on the road, the "blue eyes" of the blue-eyed crack detective who analyses bird droppings, etc. The only thing real is that Altman was not at his best and seemed to be uncomfortable cobbling this story together--a far cry from the director of "McCabe and Mrs Miller," "Nashville" or "A wedding."
Altman's "Brewster McCloud" alternates from the mature comedy to low comedy. 'Mature' is his portrayal of the character Abraham Wright (Stacy Keach), a wheelchair borne landlord who fleeces the poor. 'Low' is the behavior of Wright towards his nurses at his old-age home. Altman swings from looking at what is interesting--shoplifting--to the bizarre--a widow getting married to her husband's colleague--something that "Nashville" and "A wedding" rarely did.
Look at the film closely and little is real. The black comedy almost borders on satire--a lecturer who looks and behaves like the birds he describes, an exaggerated masturbation scene, a wheelchair moving faster than cars on the road, the "blue eyes" of the blue-eyed crack detective who analyses bird droppings, etc. The only thing real is that Altman was not at his best and seemed to be uncomfortable cobbling this story together--a far cry from the director of "McCabe and Mrs Miller," "Nashville" or "A wedding."