Robert Altman has an interesting directing style, he is unlike any other director that i have come into contact with over my life. In most of his films, Altman is working with a large cast weaving and intertwining their stories, he then directs the connections made between his characters towards a greater truth which is generally summed up in an abrupt ending. I found his style to be very different from the movies that I am used to. Altman combines a restless camera with multiple overlapping dialogue to add to the chaos within his films. I really liked how in "The Long Goodbye" the camera always seems to be moving and how Marlowe is in every scene of the film. These to cinematic aspects really made the viewer feel connected to Marlowe as a person and helped evoke the sense that Marlowe was always on the move and really determined to find the truth behind the death of Terry Lennox. I did at times find it hard to follow what was going on with his choice of overlapping dialogue, often times I would get lost in a conversation between the characters, but at the same time this really gave the film a very "real" feeling because rarely does someone get to talk and have the floor all to themselves there is often a bit of overlap. I would have to say that my preference for watching these films again would look something like this:
1) The Long Goodbye
2) The Player
3) Nashville
For some reason, Nashville just didn't meet my expectations after watching "The Long Goodbye", perhaps this is because I am partial to a private eye mystery over a country musical? I felt that "The Player" was a good movie to follow up Nashville and I think it cleaned the bad taste that "Nashville" left in my mouth. Overall I would have to say that Altman is an interesting director with a style all his own.
