Nashville

This movie has it all: Shelley Duvall and her ever-changing wigs, Jeff Goldblum as “Tricycle Man”whose only role is to drive around in a 3-wheeled chopper, Nashville’s sweetheart Barbara Dean (who is always fainting and frail with Unknown Illness, let’s just call it consumption), a man named Tom who listens to his own song “I’m Easy” while having sex, and 20 other main characters whose stories flawlessly weave together in the span of 5 days. Nashville is a story about love and dreams of making it on their own (no matter how), as well an observation on America politics and how it affects all of us, whether we choose to engage or not. This film has a masterful way of layering audio and weaving scenes together in such a fluid way; there will be a conversation going on while the background plays the political messages that continuously blare from Hal Phillip Walker’s campaign van which comes across as very natural. The dialogue reminds me of Dazed and Confused and The Big Chill in that way, everyone has a very authentic way of speaking and a lot of it is not as much to further the plot but rather to get a feel for what each character is all about. Walker is never shown but he is leading the third party in the US primaries at this time, and he’s getting all the hot new country singers to perform at his rally. In the end, Barbara Dean is shot before he can even come out, which prompts Haven to yell out “This isn’t Dallas, this is Nashville!” The film came out 2 years after JFK was shot and 1 year after Nixon was taken out of office. Haven is the same character who sings “Oh we must be doing something right to last 200 years”. Well, I wouldn’t say we’re doing something right but we’re definitely staying consistent…. while I was watching this the news was covering the first school shooting of this year. I’d love to do another watch to catch all the little details, but tbh it took me two days to get through it and I hate listening to all the full length songs that Haven sings. Ending is awesome. happy beginning to the 2024 election year everyone