A Prairie Home Companion
Seen 4 July 2006 at AMC Loews Boston Common
* * * * * (out of 5)
I admit that it was odd watching a film about the fictional last performance of a show with the history of “A Prairie Home Companion,” considering that I’ve never heard a minute of the show. One would think that would lessen some of the gravity and weight the film might have otherwise held. Luckily, Robert Altman is really, really good at telling character-based stories and Garrison Keillor really, really knows about what he writes.
The film follows the perspective of Guy Noir (Kevin Kline), the private eye-turned-head of security for the show, which broadcasts from the Fitzgerald Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota. Unfortunately, a broadcasting company from Texas has bought the theater, and plans to turn it into a nice new parking lot, evicting the show from its home, and presumably from the airwaves all together. On this last performance, a number of strange and unique events occur, but the show goes on, as it had since 1974. We see the live broadcast interspersed with backstage moments and conversations between castmates as they slowly move toward the idea of doing something else with their lives.
I give a whole lot of credit to Garrison Keillor for this one, because only he could really capture the proper tone of this thing that he had built from the ground up. In addition to playing himself, Keillor has populated the stage with coexisting versions of his ever-present characters - Noir, Dusty and Lefty (Woody Harrelson and John C. Riley), and Keillor himself - the old-timey singing Johnson Sisters (Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin), and a full assortment of guest performers and techies, many played by current cast members of the program. He’s blended them in a way that allows you to very easily follow everyone without any need to know anything about their previous lives. All you need to know is that this show is important to them, and its death is a sad occasion. From there, the relationships and conversations will carry the rest.
Read the rest at HBS!
* * * * * (out of 5)
I admit that it was odd watching a film about the fictional last performance of a show with the history of “A Prairie Home Companion,” considering that I’ve never heard a minute of the show. One would think that would lessen some of the gravity and weight the film might have otherwise held. Luckily, Robert Altman is really, really good at telling character-based stories and Garrison Keillor really, really knows about what he writes.
The film follows the perspective of Guy Noir (Kevin Kline), the private eye-turned-head of security for the show, which broadcasts from the Fitzgerald Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota. Unfortunately, a broadcasting company from Texas has bought the theater, and plans to turn it into a nice new parking lot, evicting the show from its home, and presumably from the airwaves all together. On this last performance, a number of strange and unique events occur, but the show goes on, as it had since 1974. We see the live broadcast interspersed with backstage moments and conversations between castmates as they slowly move toward the idea of doing something else with their lives.
I give a whole lot of credit to Garrison Keillor for this one, because only he could really capture the proper tone of this thing that he had built from the ground up. In addition to playing himself, Keillor has populated the stage with coexisting versions of his ever-present characters - Noir, Dusty and Lefty (Woody Harrelson and John C. Riley), and Keillor himself - the old-timey singing Johnson Sisters (Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin), and a full assortment of guest performers and techies, many played by current cast members of the program. He’s blended them in a way that allows you to very easily follow everyone without any need to know anything about their previous lives. All you need to know is that this show is important to them, and its death is a sad occasion. From there, the relationships and conversations will carry the rest.
Read the rest at HBS!
posted by Matt S. at
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