Almost There: Cher in "Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean"

by Cláudio Alves

What are you doing for Mother’s Day? The Criterion Channel marks the occasion with a collection inspired by Michael Koresky's Films of Endearment. In his book, the film critic details how he and his mother revisited the 1980s movies that she introduced to him, igniting a passion for cinema. The resulting selection comprises a varied offering of that decade's prestige cinema starring an array of acclaimed actresses, from Ellen Burstyn to Meryl Streep. One of the collection's most exciting titles is Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, an underrated Robert Altman effort that gave Cher her first serious big-screen role. If not for this flick, her ascendance to movie stardom might have never happened, much less a Best Actress Oscar victory.

As one looks back at the 1982 play adaptation, the beginning of Cher's path towards acting gold is evident. Indeed, she almost got an Academy Award nomination right then and there…

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Sally Kellerman (1937-2022)

by Nathaniel R

The original "Hot Lips" Houlihan, actress Sally Kellerman has passed away at 84 after a battle with dementia. The willowy California blonde landed her first screen role when she was just a teenager in the B movie Reform School Girl (1957) after which she paid her dues with over a decade's worth of guest spots on various television series and small movie roles. Fame took its time arriving. She finally broke through as the lusty nurse in Robert Altman's hit war comedy MASH (1970), landing an Oscar nomination...

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Almost There: Tim Robbins in "The Player"

by Cláudio Alves

For the past few weeks, the Almost There series has been focused on performances that won at Cannes. Tomorrow, the latest edition of Europe's most prestigious film festival begins, so it's time to end our journey through the Croisette's past. After Woodward, Duvall, and Whitaker, it's time to take a look at Tim Robbins' work in Robert Altman's The Player. The flick marked its director's splashy comeback after a decade of minor works. Playing a venal big shot producer in a skewering of the movie business, Robbins won the Best Actor prize at Cannes, got terrific reviews, but failed to secure an Oscar nomination…

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Almost There: Shelley Duvall in "3 Women"

by Cláudio Alves

The Almost There series' temporary fixation on Cannes-winning performances continues with the incomparable Shelley Duvall. In 1977, when her sixth collaboration with director Robert Altman premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, Duvall took home the much-coveted Best Actress prize from a jury presided by Roberto Rossellini. The picture that earned such golden plaudits was 3 Women, a Bergman-esque exploration of juxtaposed and deconstructed identity that's also one of the best American films of its decade…

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The heartbreaking beauty of "Brief Encounter"

by Cláudio Alves

Ever since I listened to Robert Altman's commentary track on the Gosford Park DVD, I've bristled at the idea that someone needs to be a certain age to enjoy a film. In that bonus feature, Altman mentions that Gosford Park has nothing to offer to fourteen-year-old boys, and they shouldn't get to watch it. As a fourteen-year-old boy for whom Gosford Park was a favorite, I felt personally attacked. A bit more than a decade later, I've grown less annoyed at such blanket statements about age and movie appreciation. As it turns out, there are films that can gain something when the audience seeing them is more mature. You may be asking yourself, what does this have to do with Brief Encounter or our 1946 celebration? Apologies for my long-windedness.

I'm trying to introduce a personal realization I had. While I might have loved Brief Encounter when I was a teen, I knew not of its power. Now, I think it's one of the best and most devastating films ever made…

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