Short Cuts (1993)

Director:

Robert Altman

Writers (WGA):

Raymond Carver (writings)
Robert Altman (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

3 October 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

From two American masters comes a movie like no other

Plot:

The everyday lives of a number of Los Angeles residents are the subject of this loosely-knitted collection of short stories.

Plot Keywords:

Fishing | Helicopter | Drink | Jazz | Concert

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 13 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Andie MacDowell	...	Ann Finnigan
Bruce Davison	...	Howard Finnigan
Jack Lemmon	...	Paul Finnigan
Zane Cassidy	...	Casey Finnigan
Julianne Moore	...	Marian Wyman
Matthew Modine	...	Dr. Ralph Wyman
Anne Archer	...	Claire Kane
Fred Ward	...	Stuart Kane
Jennifer Jason Leigh	...	Lois Kaiser
Chris Penn	...	Jerry Kaiser
Joseph C. Hopkins	...	Joe Kaiser
Josette Maccario	...	Josette Kaiser
Lili Taylor	...	Honey Bush
Robert Downey Jr.	...	Bill Bush
Madeleine Stowe	...	Sherri Shepard

MPAA:

Rated R for graphic sexual language, and for nudity

Runtime:

187 min | Argentina:190 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Certification:

Portugal:M/16 | Norway:15 | Iceland:16 | New Zealand:M | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Finland:K-14 | France:U | Germany:16 | Israel:PG | Singapore:M18 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Bronson Caves, Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Avenue Pictures Productions

Trivia:

Annie Ross and Lori Singer's segment is a Robert Altman invention and has no connection to anything Raymond Carver has written.

Goofs:

Continuity: Gene Shepard throws a rock through his mistress's living room window while she's away on vacation. Yet when she comes back, the window is unbroken.

Quotes:

Lois Kaiser: [talking through sex hotline] Oh! I can feel your balls up against my ass!

Movie Connections:

Version of Jindabyne (2006)

Soundtrack:

Imitation of a Kiss

Six degrees of separation

In front of a group of fishermen, a waitress bends over for a slab of butter. They take in the image like hungry wolves gulping meat, as her skirt rises high, revealing everything. They like what they see, so they ask her, `Can we have more butter, please?' The double meaning is obvious.

In a nightclub, a singer languishes over a sultry little song about `a good, punishing kiss.' The conversation in the foreground -- ex-cons relating cruel, violent stories from prison -- moves to the rhythm of the jazz saxophone, a dissonant snare-drum-prose accompaniment to the song. It's a deliberate ambiguity that binds the viewer in the scene's artistic tension.

In an upscale home with a breathtaking view of the city of angels, a struggling artist is being questioned about her relationship with another artist. She's naked from the waist down, suggesting both sexual aggressiveness, and vulnerability, simultaneously. She's seductively defiant with her husband. She confesses to an affair; but she does so angrily, indignant for being asked. It's sweet and sour, light and dark, truthful but deceptive, all at once. More double entendres.

Robert Altman's Short Cuts weaves all these disconnected scenes together like common strands of rope. It's the interplay of opposites that firmly holds them all together. The title itself, `Short Cuts,' has dual meaning: it's an interconnected mixture of `short cuts,' as in `off the cutting room floor' or `film clips;' and, it's an unmistakable reference to the web of human life, the social short cuts between ourselves and everyone else, as in the famous `six degrees of separation,' which tells us that we are only six personal relationships away from everyone else in the world. Set in LA, this idea makes for a lovely irony: although the main characters are completely absorbed in their individual worlds, they are intimately connected to each other. They just don't know it.

Short Cuts is one of Altman's masterpieces. See it if you can.