Short Cuts (1993)

Third viewing; previously viewed on April 20, 1994 and on June 1, 1995.

Several groups of characters in Los Angeles which inhabit different circles but whose trajectories intersect. A newscaster and his wife whose son is hit by a car. A doctor and his wife who have a conjugal crisis of sorts. A group of friends who go fishing. A womanizing cop and his wife. A phone sex worker who is married to a pool cleaner. A make up artist and his wife. A nightclub singer and her cellist daughter. A limo driver and his bartender wife.

It somehow failed to inspire the same amount of awe as it did in my previous viewings. I still like it, but for some reason I suspect in my previous viewings I was under some kind of spell which had little to do with the actual film qualities. The story about the injured kid may have drowned the other, less emotional segments somewhat, then. That didn't happen in this viewing, and what I got was a more balanced perception of the movie in its entirety. Its literariness stood out a little more flagrantly. I think this is more a situation-based film than a character-based one. There isn't an extreme concern about getting the psychology right. These are not necessarily real people. And the situations are more or less what most people expect from a city like Los Angeles. In those terms, it is a very good movie.

Rating: 75 (down from 97)