Quintet (1979)

Someone has to say it: the emperor is wearing no clothes. Don't get me wrong. I'm a fan of Robert Altman, who directed at least dozen films I greatly admire, including two of my all-time favorites. To me, the willingness to take artistic risks, fall on one's face, then get up and try again, is a sign of creative courage and is to be respected. But this doesn't mean we have to applaud the failures. Maybe it seemed like a good idea on paper: let's represent the cruelty, absurdity and meaninglessness of life with an isolated, post-apocalyptic group of people who addictively play a board game (never described, but apparently requiring no skill) while awaiting their inevitable deaths. As a concept, this might seem attractive, envisioned as a science fiction epic that combined the best of Kubrick and Bergman. The resulting movie, however, is quite simply a disaster. "Quintet" is talky, jejune, visually static, humorless, repetitive, emotionally distant, without suspense, confusing, and most conspicuously, boring. It must be one of the least engrossing movies I've ever watched. Even with a distinguished international cast, there isn't one character with any depth—which means no character to give a flying "f" about (and this from a director who in other films brought dozens of characters to life with minimal dialogue and limited screen time). The dreamy, grease-limned cinematography is more annoying than evocative. The existential sophistication is that of a 12-year-old who just figured out we're all going to die—or maybe Altman had one of those moments when he was high on drugs and thought the insight he'd just had was profound, but forgot to sleep it off. "We didn't ask to be here." (Whoa! Deep, man.) I concede there are a couple of visually striking images amid the endless shots of people in big coats walking to their next scenes (though oddly, they don't ever look cold), and the music is interesting, if a bit overwrought given the banality of the events being portrayed. Neither virtue is enough for me to elevate this film to a "2" rating. Honestly, people, there have to be 20 better Altman movies you should watch before you try to suffer through this one. I can only hope one day a secret diary is found that shows Altman was punking us to win a bet that he could get some people to watch anything.

Fernando Rey states at the conclusion of "Quintet" that "life can only be felt when death is near." It can be said with certainty that this film engenders one to wholly realize the infallibility of this proclamation.However, the star of Quintet is Paul Newman. He plays a man named Essex living in a post-apocalyptic ice age world. Returning to what is seemingly one of the last areas of abundant concentration of human life, Essex finds mankind singularly concerned with a game; quintet. A game to which the rules are never seriously attempted to be made clear nor one in which it's meaning to the characters could ever be understood. As the game went so did the film.Vincent Canby may have said it best, "All great directors must be arrogant to the extent that they will follow their dreams through to the bitter, sometimes banal end." When considering Quintet was written, directed and produced by Robert Altman, Canby's statement is undoubtedly assured.The banality is felt increasingly with every coming scene. It is felt through the frigid performance of Paul Newman, who comes across more as a depressed introverted Han Solo. They're many scenes that only cause utter confusion. In fact, the scenes without dialog are a bit more stimulating than those of interaction. Quintet is not a film for recommended viewing. Yet, if you are unable to resist the aura Newman and Altman, beware of frostbite.

(Only minor spoilers) Offbeat oddity director Robert Altman returns to the screen with yet another non-commercial and highly artistic film. Having gone through a Altman kick in the last couple of days I have found many hidden pieces of gold and this is one of them! The story is set in the future and we follows Essex and his wife Vivia who are on their way into a town where Essex used to live. We're somewhere with loads of ice and we're apparently close to human extinction. As a result the humans have become a cold breed and they all seem to be occupied with this game called Quintet. Altman apparently invented the game in complete form only to use it in this film. now that shows commitment. In the city Essex witness a horrible event which drags him into this game but with an rather interesting twist. The film is incredibly well shot and structured and the acting is as you should expect great! We're talking about Newman, Rey and Andersson here so what else is it to expect. One thing this film manages is to create a mood I have not seen in an other film, sure it's a little close to the one used in McCabe and Mrs. Miller but more like the Norwegian action film Ofelas.Everything about this film is odd. It mixes about every emotion possible and leaves this weird feeling in your stomach. Altman went all the way with this picture, he both reinvented styles used in silent cinema and tried out some new stuff.This is a film you should definitely get a hold of. Especially if your looking for something out of the ordinary while it's also being fairly on the point, straight forward and using a somewhat classical yet offbeat style. An odd but rewarding experience.

Sorry--whatever merits the story about the game may have, this movie really loses it with the details. This post-apocalyptic city seems to have plenty of light bulbs and electricity (where from who knows where), but apparently no one bothered to save an electric heater. I am sorry, but if you have electricity, why do you have to rely solely on fire for warmth? Also, some characters seem to have vaguely Italian accents while the rest are deadpan American.And the dogs--jeez! Why aren't the people eating them (instead of the reverse)? And apparently only one breed survived. The dogs are a distraction and rather stupid. The movie could have worked on the level of the game, but the stupid "realistic" details were just the reverse and made the movie false and unwatchable.