It would scarcely be possible to sum up the life and work of iconoclastic filmmaker Robert Altman in 95 minutes, and while Mann’s heartfelt hagiography, made in collaboration with the late director’s family, has little to offer long-term fans, it’s a laudable introduction for anyone yet to experience the joys of Nashville, M_A_S*H, Short Cuts or The Player.
Mann assembles plenty of clips, home movies and archive material, but new interviews with such Altman players as Robin Williams, Julianne Moore, Bruce Willis, Michael Murphy, Lyle Lovett, Keith Carradine and others are frustratingly short. Can we have a director’s cut?