SHORT CUTS Retrospective

In his last Los Angeles-set film, Robert Altman adapts the work of author Raymond Carver in what is widely seen as the best cinematic treatment of Carver’s writing to date. Based on nine short stories and one poem by Carver, SHORT CUTS presents 22 characters in various states of ennui and crisis. Swapping Carver’s Pacific Northwest for the oppressively sun-drenched Southern California landscape, the characters’ stories stand alone and intersect, but always return to themes of death, infidelity and the brutal cruelty of men. Featuring an ensemble cast including Tim Robbins, Jack Lemmon, Frances McDormand, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Lyle Lovett — as a character delivering one of Carver and Altman’s most iconic lines of dialogue — SHORT CUTS is a rare showcase of two great American artists. – Sudeep Sharma