Robert Altman

Altman (Altman), Robert (p. 20. 02. 1925, Kansas-City), American film director, screenwriter, producer.
He graduated from the University of Missouri in Kansas City. Engineering Education, . Altman began with the scientific and technical films, . worked on television, . making documentary films: 'History of James Dean' (The James Dean story, . 1957) and only in 1968 made his debut in an art cinema film 'Countdown' (Countdown) - for astronauts, . preparing to fly to the moon,
. Shot in the usual Hollywood production for the series 'anonymous' style, he drew attention. And only a film 'a chilly afternoon in the park' (That Cold Day In The Park, 1969), exploring the psychology of women, forced to talk about startups. On the study of female psychology, and in an unusual, almost surreal fashion, Altman came back again in 'Three Women' (3 Women, 1977).
. His first real success was the antiwar absurdist comedy 'MASH' (1970, Grand Prize Cannes Film Festival), events which unfold in the U.S. military field hospital since the Korean War.
. In the first half of the 1970 Altman worked a lot in genre cinema
. He put a western, or more precisely, antivestern 'Mak-Keyb and Mrs. Miller' (mccabe and mrs. Miller, 1971), Detective 'Long Goodbye' (The Long Goodbye, 1973), a comedy 'California Split' (California Split, 1974), a criminal drama "Thieves Like Us' (Thieves Like Us, 1974),. All of them were made in a manner that is largely opposed to Hollywood. Director inverts the usual romantic tradition: do not take beautiful stars, preferring them ugly, but talented actors, studiously avoided 'Happy-ends'.
. World fame and recognition came to Oltmenu in the second half of 1970, when they were delivered to his best pictures
. In the movie 'Nashville' (Nashville, 1975) - a kind of 'Jubilee' film shot to the bicentennial of the United States - two intertwined story lines: a music festival and the campaign, that is, art and politics. And there and here - the same sterility, bigotry, hypocrisy, utilitarianism. Instead of the familiar story in the film - a multidimensional polyphonic action with lots of heroes. Because of their interaction on the screen builds up a complex life mosaic, which is a lot of Brecht's poetics. Mass audience did not take a picture.
. In 1976, Altman made another film - expose the satire "Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull lesson of history '(Buffalo Bill And The Indians, Or Sitting Bull's History Lesson, the main prize of the festival in West Berlin)
. Here in the center of attention - dramatized 'spectacle of the Wild West', predecessors of westerns, in preparation for one of the collision of the real historical truth with invented for ideological purposes legend. In the film 'Wedding' (A Wedding, . 1978) the director returned to the present, . criticizing the 'sacred' institution of marriage and family, . showing lack of spirituality of existence, . falsity relations, . hidden behind the external decency representatives segments of society.,
. In 1981, Altman was forced to sell their own kinofirmu 'Layon's Gate', . issuing his best pictures, . and return to work on television, . theater, . a modest screen versions of the set pieces there: 'The Secret honor' (Secret Honor, . 1984), . 'Over the edge therapy' (Beyond Therapy, . 1987 and others),
. On the eve of the 1990's director general, left America, he settled in Paris where he again found a creative performance. Being far away from Hollywood, Altman was able to bring with them scores in the film 'The Player' (The Player, 1992). This is again the merciless satire that exposes both the content and methods of manufacture of Hollywood mass production. Equally sad sight of the master and to life in the American kinostolitse - Los Angeles, reflected in the 'Short Stories' (Short Cuts, 1993). The fate of the characters of eight different stories all the time overlap, and all their depressing loneliness, violence, sex without love, lack of spirituality. Films Altman 'Ready to Wear' - about the world of Parisian fashion (PRET-A-PORTER, 1994) and 'Kansas City' (1996), dedicated to hometown producer, did not have much success.
Altman is rightly called a leading representative of 'copyright' U.S. cinema. Most 'negollivudsky' director of America, he spent his creative life that challenges the 'dream factory', ridicules its standards and stamps, a parody of hackneyed plots, analyzes the familiar myths.