A Prairie Home Companion

There's The Painted Veil kind of awww-movies, where lovers die and you feel for their tragic separation, and then there's A Prairie Home Companion, where there's more than love, death, and tears. There's hearty laughs between old friends, the end of something pure, and the reminisce of the good ol' days. A Prairie Home Companion plays like an ode to Robert Altman's life, for shortly after directing this film, which unforseenly serves as his last, he passed. what's ironic was how i read that this was not intended to be his last, and that he was gonna keep making movies for as long as he could. Sadly, that did not happen. Very often we find the big screen's reel a fragment of life. this is the rare case, in which life mimicks the movies. As A Prairie Home Companion, a live radio show, plays for the last time, so is this Robert Altman's swansong.





To the present MTV-generation movie-goers, the closest one gets to reading the name "Robert Altman" is the movie Gosford Park. his other classics include M*A*S*H, Nashville, and The Player. Sad to say, all of which i've never seen. His trademarks are his multiple characters (but it did not downplay their personality) and overlapping lines, which Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin perfected while presenting the Honorary Oscars to Altman last year.

A Prairie Home Companion is not a showy movie. There's no obvious climax. no fire, explosions, murders(only deaths), guns, or even sex. well, sex was close. it's a movie for a lazy sunday night, just chilling to cold beer and chips while slopped on the sofa. it's a wispy rumination that slowly builds on heartwarming and tender moments, kinda like watching a group of lifelong frens playing together for the last time, that kinda feeling. The movie is one huge radio show brought on screen. if u love folk and country music, u would probably love this film. but the greatest irony of this film was how death is prophetic. when Virginia Madsen's Angel took away Chuck's life, her comfort to the wife: "The death of an old man is not a tragedy" lingers on with bittersweet aftertaste. the band sings on, "let the light from the lighthouse shine on me". at that moment, i cant help but to think Mr Altman made this movie with it being the last on his mind. the soft treatment towards death, and the soothing of it back to life, and how he died thinking of something high played like comfort, like u knew he was gonna go, and hopefully by watching this movie u'll feel better. therein lies the irony, because we dont. at least i dont.

if i were to watch this like any other movie, i'd probably watch it for the sake of Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin. but the fact that this was RA's final picture gave me perspective, and that's what everyone who's ever gonna watch this movie sld probably know. As usual, Meryl was beyond good, and who knew she had such a lovely singing voice (see for yourself). it matched Lily's deep Alto perfectly. John C and Woody Harrelson stole the show with their cowboy comedy. but the true joy was seeing Garrison Keillor, whose voice was made to be on radio. seeing it was an added bonus. he also wrote the screenplay.

A Prairie Home Companion, as told in the dvd extra, is still in play. here's another one to add to my list of things to see before i die.



Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin - My Minnesota Home




Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin - Goodbye My Mama


I've always loved OG's reviews for his spot-on nuance.
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,1201750,00.html




"So gather ye rosesbuds while ye may
Time is still a-flying
This same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying"