http://www.riffs.com/movies/5343664/ Recent reviews of:A Prairie Home Companion Copyright 2005 ATTAP Technologies Inc. Jake and Alex http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss
This movie is essentially a love poem to the show. It takes you through the last broadcast before the the show is closed forever.  It really does a wonderful job of sharing the enrgy and spirit of the show, at once very small but very large. Very small personal stories and songs being shared but all in such a universal way that you can't help but be drawn in. The reason here is not only the charm of the program but also the actors and the director.

Lets start with Altman. Ony a director who lets the camera hold on his actors could have made this movie work, We get a sense of intimacy, that we are another person in the room with these people or another member of the audience.  And only Alman could have the patience to trust the long take and the sound to create the scene.

Of course, none of that trust would be possible without an amazing cast. A new accent for Meryl!!! Go see it, it  is hilarious. Lily  Tomlin is also fantastic as Meryl's sister act. Even Lindsay Lohan holds her own. Keving Kline and Virginia Madsen are wasted in awkward roles, him as a character/security guard of the show and she as some sort of angel of death.

This is where the movie goes places it shouldn't have. Without giving too much away, there are characters wandering around that are disconcerting. Whenever you leave the actual show, you get this "What the hell is going on here" feeling and wish the strange angel theme had been omitted. The movie works well as a love letter to the show, but there isnt really much else here. That is to say, very little narrative. Which is not something necessarily wrong or bad, but I would warn those looking for more of a narrative line to know what to expect.

Knowing what to expect might cause you to sit back and enjoy the picture more. I have saved you the trouble of trying to lern who everyone is so that when things happen you will recal all the characters. Not here, people flow in and out so dont bother remembering people. Very natural and effective.

I give it a positive rating because I loved the songs and the acting enough to everide my desire for more narrative elements. Perhaps that would have been having my cake and eating it too.


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