"Nashville" is a film produced by Robert Altman for the 200th anniversary of American independence. It is recognized as his best film and an important film in the United States in the 1970s.
Nashville is the capital of Tennessee in the United States. It has been the center of American country music since the 1950s, and many popular songs have been recorded here. Its "large-scale ancient opera" radio program is very influential in the United States. But "Nashville" is not actually a music film. It covers a wide range of ideological issues including country music, media, television, culture, politics and so on. It uses the "Grand Hotel" model to express Ultraman's unique view of American society through a weekend spent by 24 people in Nashville.
In the United States, a country that loves self-expression, everyone is crazy for fame and fortune. Unhealthy social ethos and unhealthy social consciousness arise from this. Fame comes easily, money comes easily, women come easily. The short-lived stars and short-lived politicians influence the entire country. Among them, media activities such as news interviews, television broadcasting, campaign propaganda, and music performances played a role in fueling the flames. The C+W concert in "Nashville" is a media carrier that misleads the people and stimulates people to pursue overnight fame. People continue to use others, and those who are exploited often acquiesce in such use, because they themselves are not lacking in hypocrisy, greed, and selfishness. The parallel or intersecting behaviors of people involved in the same incident at the same time and at the same place in the film constitute a complex ideological network.
The concert and the campaign meeting were combined. It was the singer who was assassinated, not the presidential candidate, indicating that the film used country music as a metaphor for politics and singers as a metaphor for politicians. Numerous acts of hypocrisy occurred in the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of American independence. In the place named after the hero of the American Revolution, General Nash, this cannot but be regarded as a reflection of the American spirit. From the beginning of the film, the singer Hamilton sang "Two Hundred Years", which exposed the hypocrisy of the people in the play. While praising the fairness of the United States, he ridiculed the pianist's long hair, which was a symbol of the American youth's pursuit of liberation in the 1970s. The film focuses on this kind of hypocritical duplicity. Tripty uses concerts that are of interest to the people to attract them to participate in elections that they are not interested in; Walker does not know that the so-called campaign platform is actually just to get votes; Olar hypocritically commented on western country music, essentially just surrounding celebrities. Turn; Barbara Jane and Connie White are in intrigue; Suren Gai does not hesitate to sell hues; the peasant woman Albuquerque escapes from her peasant husband, just as country music breaks away from its roots and becomes a commodity; Joan’s star dream, From Hollywood to Nashville; even the kind wife and mother Linnia can't resist Tom's temptation, from the church choir to the rock band. The violence occurred on the stage of the Parthenon temple, which represents ancient culture. The unexplained shooting incident satirized the political power behind the scenes and the superficial pop music with one stone. Walker's car turned around when the gun was shot, and "I'm not troubled by it" on and off the stage. Although Barbara Jane and Albuquerque are totally different from each other, the public accepts them equally. The masses are pragmatic, and there is nothing that cannot be replaced.
Tom is a typical American who is frivolous and conceited. The scene in which he sang "I'm Calm and Free" in the bar was the most exciting scene in the whole film. The three women who had an affair with him thought the song was dedicated to them. At this time, the camera is cross-edited, and under the beat of the music, three women’s facial expressions alternately appear in the scene: Olar boasted that he had slept with Tom and is now triumphant; Mary, the female singer in Tom’s rock band, for Olar was sulking at the boasting, and now nervously grasping the meaning of Tom; Joan was simple-minded, just smirking. Only Tom himself understands that this song is dedicated to Linia, and plays the role of a big lover proudly.
The downplay and multi-faceted meaning are Ultraman's unique style. The film does not have a tortuous plot, it is like a documentary, which objectively records the daily lives of 24 people, and the information that the director wants to convey is naturally implicit in it. After Suren Guy desperately found that he was completely inadequate to become a singer, he had to agree to perform a striptease in exchange for the opportunity to appear on stage at the C+W concert. She awkwardly imitated the movements of the stripper, took off the handkerchiefs, bras, and underwear tucked in the bra one by one, threw them to the ecstatic gentlemen, and then staggered into the backstage. There is nothing sexy in this performance. After the end, the director used a long lens to shoot her disappearing behind a door in the distance, implying that this little person has lost value and will soon be forgotten. The whole process of this scene was shot in a panoramic view, there was no sensational description, no close-up shots. Suren Gay was not raped, and the gentlemen were not beasts in clothing. Everything is reasonable and reasonable. And because it's so much like life, it's really frightening.
There are many events in life that can produce unexpected results, and the dramatic effects can be highlighted by cleverly capturing them. At the airport, a TV reporter reported on the scene that Barbara was admitted to the hospital. A campaign girl quietly stood behind the reporter holding a campaign poster. So it appeared on the TV screen: The reporter reported on Barbara in front of Walker's poster. This shot once again satirizes the pervasiveness of the election campaign, and at the same time links the election with music.
Altman is a well-known anti-traditional director who takes a critical attitude towards American society and the film industry. In terms of content, he has always been cynic. He has his own unique style in creation. He likes to use long lenses, panoramic zoom, and synchronized recording, which give his films a documentary style. He chooses actors boldly, encourages improvisation, photography and editing have his own characteristics. Although Ultraman has been working in Hollywood where he is making genre films, he often makes "anti-genre films". This film is very different from traditional Hollywood music films. The singers in the film are all non-heroes, no different from politicians who have forgotten justice. Although the film is almost all about filming concerts of various forms, large and small, and sang 27 songs, none of them are composed of popular songs at the time or composed by composers of popular music, but all are composed by the crew themselves. . Because the film does not call attention to its songs, it just satirizes society through music.
Initially, Ultraman shot a film that could be shown for 70 hours. The editor Sid Levin cut it into an 8-hour raw film, which was later reduced to 6 hours, divided into two episodes, and then compressed into three and a half hours, and the final version was released for more than two and a half hours. Excessive compression affects the audience’s understanding of certain plots, such as Barbara Jane’s childhood experience, Kenny’s motivation for shooting, and the frequent riding of a three-wheeled motorcycle with a large front wheel and a small rear wheel. The people in the car are quite puzzled. Altman had considered dividing "Nashville" into two versions, with the same characters and different plot points. Perhaps this can be fully developed, but the result has not been realized.
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