Auteurship - Robert Altman

The Long Goodbye -

This was an interesting movie for me. I found Marlowe's character to be very intriguing and almost comical, especially considering his role in the story and the theme of the film itself. Marlowe is a strange and quirky man who almost seems to have a sense of sarcasm and a lack of seriousness throughout the film. I think that his character was really what held together the story and made this film interesting for me. There are so many things happening in the storyline, and a lot of dark and serious topics being brought to life, but all the while, Marlowe maintains his cool and witty personality. The way he acts and his commentary on the things going on around him give a little bit of light to the dark situations he comes in contact with throughout the movie.

Gosford Park -

This film definitely reinforced my feelings about Altman's auteur style. Despite his dark and intricate storylines, Altman builds interesting characters and seems to almost focus more on these characters' quirks and idiosyncrasies than on the story at hand. Despite this film and The Long Goodbye both dealing with some heavy subjects that the characters are facing, there's still a lightheartedness that's brought out by the focus on the relationships and actions of the characters. Altman doesn't seem to like following the traditional techniques of making mystery films. Generally speaking, a mystery film begins with the necessity to solve a mystery, then the plot is built around finding the answers and solutions. But Altman's approach is to keep the main focus off of the mystery at hand.

Beyond Therapy -

This Altman film breaks the boundaries of the other two films that I watched. While still developing a lot of the characters and making them quirky and interesting, this film is definitely more plot-based. After viewing these films, I decided to read some online reviews of them. This film definitely seemed to get the most negative comments from Altman fans. I can definitely see where they would be coming from. If you're used to Altman's usual style of focusing more upon the characters and somewhat ignoring the underlying plot, then this film would definitely be a surprise.

From my experience, which is never having seen any other films by Altman, I feel that my understanding of his work is mostly about his treatment of characters and plot. I enjoyed The Long Goodbye the most of the three, and I think it's due to my fascination with the main character, Marlowe. I'm definitely someone who likes watching films with interesting characters. While it's important to have an interesting plot I can follow, I feel like I can somewhat overlook the plot if there's a prominent character that I can either relate to, or just generally find interesting to watch. Marlowe was definitely such a character. His sarcastic comments and odd ways of doing things kept my attention on the movie despite sometimes feeling a little lost in all that was going on in the twisting plot.