The Ensemble Film of Robert Altman : Originated from A Thinking of Subliminal Reality

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Other Title
  • ロバート・アルトマンのアンサンブル映画 : サブリミナル・リアリティを起点として
  • ロバート アルトマン ノ アンサンブル エイガ サブリミナル リアリティ オ キテン ト シテ

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Abstract

Robert Altman (1925-2006) is one of the famous film directors representing "Hollywood Renaissance", and his work is quite distinct from the classical narrative mode. He asserts that his goal of the film is to capture "Subliminal Reality". In preceding studies about his works, Robert T. Self defines characteristic representations of Altman's film as Subliminal Reality and positions it as an art cinema which is explicitly against Classical Hollywood Cinema. He is also well known by the ensemble film which focuses on multiple characters. Altman tried to make this mode of films concerning a view of subliminal reality. I have to deeply look into the film, Short Cuts (1993) in Altman's ensemble films, because it added a new aspect to previous films. The story of Short Cuts tracks the daily lives and interactions of a large cast of seemingly unrelated characters. Recently, other directors have also used the method of story telling like Short Cuts, which has the tendency to attract audience's attention and it has become a new form of narrative structure. But this movement means a certain contradiction. Even though Altman's ensemble film is based on subliminal reality which is antithetical to a mode of Classical Hollywood Cinema, why is it also received as Modern Hollywood movement? In this process, we can find a feature of Altman's subliminal reality as art cinema mixed with classical narrative mode.

Journal

  • Aesthetics

    Aesthetics 61 (1), 133-144, 2010

    The Japanese Society for Aesthetics

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