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Reader Feedback on "Film Reviews"
Regarding D'Angelo's Review of A Prairie Home Companion:
Sorry for brevity here, but I have to disagree with the critic's assertion that the film is "Altman's 'A Paririe Home..." Anyone familiar with the radio program will hear Keillor's simultaneously evangelistic and satirical voice speaking through all of the movie's characters. This cannot be said without addressing the critic's dismissal of the tone as "grave and slight" and hence difficult to interpret; Keillor's quirky broadcasts always work like an antidepressent pill that leaves the listener a little sad. Seems to this viewer that Altman was merely rendering a sort of Keillor-poesis--creating/doing a Keillor--in order to ensure that goodbyes both public (the inevitable end of the show) and personal (Madsen's line about forgiving an old man for what he wasn't and being grateful for what he was) were made and recorded. And what better instrument than a Sunday radio show that affirms life's absurdity and unexplainable beauty week in and week out? The making of this film is a deeply special, perhaps narcissistic gesture that memorializes not only Altman but also Keillor's beloved show. Cheers.
--VT
06/10 |
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