Luck, Trust & Ketchup: Robert Altman in Carver Country

Robert Altman's film Short Cuts is examined more closely with this documentary about 22 characters. A great cast is interviewed with almost everyone in it. Robert Altman was a beloved American film director. The cast included interviews with legendary Jack Lemmon, Annie Ross, Lily Tomlin, Julianne Moore, Tim Robbins, Bruce Davison and more. Raymond Carver's widow is also interviewed as well. Each cast member always tell of their fondness for the director and the feeling is the mutual. Altman must have loved actors and musicians as well. Tom Waits, Lyle Lovett, Huey Lewis and Annie Ross are also among the cast members. It's also rare to see Frances McDormand interviewed too.

Do you know what a movie is? It's like a really long story on a big screen with people acting things out. A long time ago, a man named Robert Altman made a very big and special movie called Short Cuts. Lots of people really liked it! It was about different people living in a big city and how their lives all connected like puzzle pieces.

Now, there's another little movie (called a documentary) that shows how that big movie was made. It's called Luck, Trust and Ketchup. It's kind of like watching behind the scenes-like peeking backstage at a play!

We get to see the actors (the people who play pretend in the movie), and we hear them talk about what it was like to work with Mr. Altman. He was very good at making movies. He made it feel like everyone could just play around and do what they wanted-but really, he had a plan the whole time. He always knew what he was doing, even when it looked like he was just having fun!

Some of the people in the movie talk a lot, and some people wish the movie felt more like the stories it came from. The stories were written by a man named Raymond Carver. He wrote quiet little stories about people who didn't have much and lived simple lives. But Altman made the movie feel very different-bigger and louder and with people who had a lot more to say.

This new movie (Luck, Trust and Ketchup) also talks about big ideas, like:

Luck: Sometimes things happen for no reason, like finding a toy or falling down. That's called luck.

Trust: That means believing someone will do the right thing, like a friend sharing their snack.

Ketchup: Well, ketchup is silly here. It means something you see everywhere, like ketchup at a restaurant. The movie tries to show stories that could happen to anyone, anywhere.

Some people think this new movie is really fun and interesting, especially if you don't know much about Robert Altman. But others feel like it doesn't say anything new if you already know a lot about his movies.

In the end, it's fun to see how the movie Short Cuts was made, even if not everyone agrees on what it all means. And guess what? If you're curious, you can even find this documentary online to watch for free!

Robert Altman's geniality can be easily attested in masterpieces such as "M.A.S.H.", "3 Women", just to mention a few. By the time he was about to release "Short Cuts", he was on a fertile and renewed career moment after a "lost" period in the 1980's (he made great films in the period but they went unnoticed by audiences and critics) and a resurrection with "The Player". "Luck, Trust & Ketchup: Robert Altman in Carver Country" documents not only the filming of "Short Cuts" but also the motivation behind it, the process of filming and key things that makes that movie one of the greatest experiences brought to the screen.

But what is "Short Cuts"? A three-hour epic movie about the (extra)ordinary lives of 22 people living in Los Angeles, with their stories intersecting with each other in tales about love, disillusion, betrayal, matters of life and death, the chaos of apparently simple acts, and the earthquake that unites them all in some way. Sounds a little simplistic to those who haven't seen it but it's a microscopic view of life as it really is. Altman uses of Raymond Carver's short stories written in the 1970's, brings together the characters from all of those writings, and even manages to include characters of his own - the segment featuring the jazz singer and her daughter are Altman's creations. The magnificent ensemble is composed by Tim Robbins, Andie MacDowell, Jack Lemmon, Julianne Moore, Tom Waits, Lily Tomlin, Robert Downey Jr., Anne Archer, Matthew Modine, Huey Lewis, Madeleine Stowe, Buck Henry, Bruce Davison, Lili Taylor and many others, delivering some of their most complete, most honest and at times most unusual performances. Again, it's a three-hour movie and Altman never loses momentum, he always finds ways to make you devoted to those characters, and never indulging in answering everything to the audience. He trust us to fill in the blanks of the unexpected tellings he presents. Nothing is left to chance, everything is carefully planned, it's a meticulous, inspired and true to life work written by Altman and Frank Barhydt.

This marked as the first serious attempt of bringing Carver to the big screen (with a blessing from his widow, who appears in the documentary), and lately it seems that the cinema is rediscovering his work, from "Everything Must Go" and the Oscar winning "Birdman". Still haven't read anything from him but from what I can see so far, he appeals to me in many ways. He can talk about complex themes in simple yet useful means; the journeys of any everyday-guy or girl out there who feel lost or on a verge of a breakdown, lost in love or deluded by it, trying to figure out his or her way in life.

Back to the documentary: the common routine of following director instructing actors and their meetings is also present here but it's not like seeing someone making a blockbuster; this is the behind the scenes of an independent project without the spectacular sets and crazy techniques. It's far more interesting seeing how Altman conducts a scene with Tim Robbins and the kids than any mega project done by other director. His perfect direction of actors can be viewed here as proof on why he never directed a bad performance, even if the movie was weak ("Dr. T", I'm looking at you). And there's also the cast talking about the experience of working with this master, how collaborative and insightful he was. One of the best moments here is when it's revealed that Robbins was the one who suggested to Altman that Anne Archer character should work as a clown, which became unique on screen. Throughout the documentary you can view many portraits of the actors as the characters they play, painted by artist Don Bachardy, sublime works capturing the fleeting moment of huge stars playing common characters.

Watch the film and the documentary back-to-back and find why it's one of the most important films ever made and why Altman was a gifted genius. Has to be seen at least once. 9/10