Books, Arts & Manners: Misadaptations

YOU can look at Robert Altman’s Short Cuts in two ways. You can say that, as an adaptation, however loose, of nine stories and one poem by Raymond Carver, it turns something very close to gold into something very close to dross. Or you can say that, as a more or less original creation by Altman and his co-scenarist Frank Barhydt, it is vulgar, pretentious, voyeuristic, overlong, and, above all, contrived. After that, you can add that Altman has all kinds of technical prowess. But is that adequate compensation for a gross insufficiency of artistry, intellect, and taste?

Item: Three men on a weekend fishing trip discover the nude body of a girl floating in a river (Carver). How? By one of them taking a leak just where the body bobs among some rocks. In subsequent shots, bubbles of urine surround the body (Altman).

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John Simon

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YOU can look at Robert Altman’s Short Cuts in two ways. You can say that, as an adaptation, however loose, of nine stories and one poem by Raymond Carver, it turns something very close to gold into something very close to dross. Or you can say that, as a more or less original creation by Altman and his co-scenarist Frank Barhydt, it is vulgar, pretentious, voyeuristic, overlong, and, above all, contrived. After that, you can add that Altman has all kinds of technical prowess. But is that adequate compensation for a gross insufficiency of artistry, intellect, and taste?

Item: Three men on a weekend fishing trip discover the nude body of a girl floating in a river (Carver). How? By one of them taking a leak just where the body bobs among some rocks. In subsequent shots, bubbles of urine surround the body (Altman).