User Reviews

Never seen anything like it in my life, and I imagine i never will again...

For the first 90 minutes, Nashville is a masterpiece with great performance, lots of humor, and a sense of Americana in the 70s. But it peters out by the end. It has one or two too many songs, and a climatic scene thats extremely unrealistic.

Athens Stubbornly Built Upon Diseased Soil251025 (3.2)Athens stubbornly built upon diseased soil. As long as the wind blows and birds fly, perhaps a single melody to soothe the burning heart of the moment is enough. Underneath the beautiful songs and light lies a bizarre, distorted, and ugly crowd. This film is deeply significant as a pioneer of ensemble dramas. The narrative weaves through 24 characters in Nashville, centered around a political rally for Hal Phillip Walker, a populist replacement candidate who criticizes the tax-exempt wealth of churches and the corruption of **** "royalty" of Nashville is led by Haven Hamilton, a peacock-like star with a massive ego who bosses around his studio staff while desperate to mingle with the elite. His rival is Barbara Jean, a beloved but fragile singer recovering from a burn injury, whose mental state unravels during performances despite her top-tier vocals. She is gaslit by her husband-manager, Barnett, while being stalked by a fanatical soldier, Glenn Kelly. Meanwhile, Opal, a BBC documentarian with a streak of white supremacy, wanders the city seeking "poetic" chaos, annoyingly interviewing people during performances. The struggle for **** is most tragic in Sueleen Gay, a waitress with no talent who is manipulated into a humiliating striptease under the false promise of performing at the Parthenon **** film is a scathing critique of American hypocrisy and indifference. Linnea Reese, a gospel singer and mother to deaf children, performs piety while engaging in an affair with the womanizing Tom Frank. The chaotic multi-car pile-up—where people buy ice cream and hold fan meetings amidst the wreckage—foreshadows the chilling climax. When a shooter, Kenny Fraiser, guns down Barbara Jean at the rally, the crowd's reaction is truly grotesque: the show continues. Winifred, an aspiring singer who was ignored throughout the film, seizes the microphone to finish the set while the audience, including children, continues to cheer and enjoy the music. It is a haunting portrayal of "the show must go on," where the obsession with celebrity and patriotism masks a profound collective callousness.

Watchable, mostly engaging comedy drama, Has some spot on satirical barbs, Best thing about this movie is Ronnie Blakely, so charming, with such a beautiful voice

Nashville has an approach that could give the impression of being presumptuous, but I don't see it that way. Sure, it has the intentions of looking epic, but ambition is not a negative thing in this context, let's just say that between musical numbers there's not much to absorb beyond the atmosphere of its setting. From what I saw, it captures a moment and captures it quite well, but the lack of a true destination, coupled with its excessive length, don't invite much of a revisit.

I have no idea how it's possible to fully flesh out all of these characters in a film with such a free-roaming plot. I also have absolutely no clue how every plot-line that concerns a specific character, or a specific group of characters, kinda intertwined, or rather formed altogether a complete (and very impactful) picture by the end. It took me some time to get invested, but once I found an interesting character, I gradually became fully immersed in what was going on. Also, I have to admit that I wasn't constantly, or equally, engaged with each story-line, but that will definitely change upon rewatch. The songs are some of the best I've ever heard in a film. The well-deserved Oscar-winning song ,"I'm Easy" is simply brilliant! It's quite a refreshing experience to listen to songs played out in such a free-wheeling manner. The performances are splendidly genuine. And you can't help relating to all of the (many) main characters when the film get to the personal dramas and moments of revelation by its second half. Yes, I wasn't wrong when I said in my M*A*S*H review that I think Altman's other films will work for me pretty well, and here he has made a kaleidoscope of cynicism, wit and intimacy: he has made a sprawling mosaic of American society in a most effortless efficiency! (8.5/10)