Prairie Home Companion, A

USA 2006, 105 minutes
Dir. Robert Altman
Genres: Drama, Comedy / Musical

Feat. Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Tommy Lee Jones, Woody Harrelson, Kevin Kline, Lindsay Lohan, John C. Reilly, Virginia Madsen

Aroview: Reviving the musical scope of his 70s watermark NASHVILLE, Robert Altman’s last film lovingly dramatizes the backstage quandary of a live radio variety show, drawing on the premise of a final ever performance to allude, albeit posthumously, to his own passing as one of America's greatest directors.

Fronted by real-life host Garrison Keillor, the film unfolds as various performers take the stage: Lily Tomlin and Meryl Streep as singing sisters; Lindsay Lohan as Streep’s depressed but vocally gifted daughter; and Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly as a hilarious cowboy-strumming duo (their ‘bad jokes’ number a crass highlight). In the background, Altman melds magical-realist elements (lifted from fictional characters that appear in the actual broadcast), including Kevin Kline as a hard-boiled noir castoff, and Virginia Madsen as a guardian angel. Perfectly quaint and innocuous, this nevertheless resonates as a long goodbye to the Altman oeuvre, and in its moving melancholy, will make you pine for more long after.

Adopt-a-Movie (Lindsay Lohan showcase) courtesy of Claire Harris