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Title: A Prairie Home Companion
Date Viewed: 6/10/06
Details:
- Garrison Keillor
- Woody Harrelson (Dusty)
- John C. Reilly (Lefty)
- Kevin Kline (Guy Noir)
- Virginia Madsen (Dangerous Woman in White)
- Lindsay Lohan (Lola Johnson)
- Meryl Streep (Yolanda Johnson)
- Lily Tomlin (Rhonda Johnson)
- Marylouise Burke (Lunch Lady)
- L.Q. Jones (Chuck Akers)
- Maya Rudolph (Molly)
- Tommy Lee Jones (Axeman)
- Tom Keith (Sound Effects Man)
- Director: Robert Altman
- Story, screenplay and radio program: Garrison Keillor
Score: +
The chaos and quirks of producing a live radio variety show, illustrated with one of the best, by a director who knows a lot about both chaos and quirkiness.
For those of you who have been living in a cave for the past 30 years, or who religiously avoid National Public Radio (NPR) or American Public Media (APM) either because it is "public" radio or because of its intellectual baggage -- or any combination of these -- Prairie Home Companion is the current incarnation of the classic radio variety show. It's two hours of serious fun every weekend, hosted by author, storyteller and raconteur Garrison Keillor, and populated by musicians of all ilks, commercials for nonexistent products (Powdermilk Biscuits Ð "they're tasty and expeditious" -- and the American Catsup Foundation, for example), and amusing and sober monologues and dialogs from the fertile mind of Keillor and the talented sound effects of "the sound effects man." It's to Keillor that the national consciousness (or at least its liberal wing) owes Lake Woebegone (and its Norweigian batchelor farmers), Guy Noir Private Eye, and other icons of the contemporary airwaves. It is this dense and humorous legacy that Robert Altman decided to bring to the screen, and he's done a good job of it.
But it is a bit of a fantasy, a bit of a transformation, and a bit of a kludge:
- fantasy, well, not least because there's the "Woman in White," but also because some of the jokes are a bit raw for public radio audiences and early evening air-time;
- transformation, because the radio ensemble has been artificially enlarged to include "real" characters for some of the voices that are rotating characters or personae of Keillor himself;
- a kludge, because some of the transformation doesn't quite work (notably Guy Noir).
There are the now typical Altman touches: excellent ensemble work, multiple conversations and life stories overlapping, curious and wacky characters, a dense background, an element of barely detectable fantasy. The generally decent quality of the singing voices, for an ensemble better known for their acting talents, was a bit of a (pleasant) surprise. There are a few ringers, however, including Lohan and both Strushko (the on-air band leader and musical director) and Keillor. Derivative of a now-near-routine event on each show -- the rambling, perhaps ad hoc, fantasy story "illustrated" with live sound -- there is a fabulous scene with the (real) sound-effects man and Streep's Johnson character, a sort of peevish storytelling one-up-man-ship that goes way off the rails!
One of the problems of bringing a soundscape to life is trying to match images with reality, and according to my mind's eye view, there are a few disconnects here. Guy Noir comes off as too much of a doofus, which is not at all my view of the character. Over the 25 years or so I've been a radio listener, my tastes have evolved from an early preference for "Tales from Lake Woebegone" to a more recent preference for "Guy Noir Private Eye," and I'd like to believe that my current hero is less clueless and has a few more brain cells than Kline evinced in this screenplay. Garrison, why did you do it?!
But in the end, what does it mean that we all, the audience, see the Woman in White?
(10-Jun-06)
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