I think i must be the only person who liked this film. Why is it that if a film in opaque and abstruse that it must be bad. There are no great revelations and it does seem to be derivative of Logans Run and perhaps the Seventh Seal but i do think it deserves serious criticism rather than the Peanut Gallery type reviews of it that i find online.
shareI may very well be the only other person in the audience that agrees with you. Quintet has its flaws, but it is a unique film. Robert Altman isn't afraid to deal with a complex issue and say something new and surprising about it. Paul Newman's performance is understated and effective, and the retro-medivael atmosphere imbues the film with a spooky and very unsettling mood that stays with the viewer. It is not a film for those who merely want to be entertained.
share"It is not a film for those who merely want to be entertained."
Unfortunately, "to be entertained" is the reason people leave their houses, drive across town, and pay however many bucks to go into a movie theatre. And that creates a huge paradox.
Cinema is a powerful medium, combining sight and sound, dialogue and music to convey ideas to the audience. Unfortunately, it's also hugely expensive.
Add to that the fact that cineplex owners would rather show MISSION IMPOSSIBLE III to a nearly empty auditorium its third weekend than risk showing an independent "art" film.
It's interesting to look at the ticket sale numbers for the weekend. Not the total but the per-screen figures. Independent "art" films films often have the highest per-screen figures. But can you imagine a movie about global warming being released on 3 thousand plus screens? Dream on.
There are films that entertain and provoke the viewer to think, and there are those films that merely entertain. Simply stated, there are different films made for different audiences. The question is: what did you think of Quintet?
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I just saw Quintet and was absolutely baffled. The bulky costumes, visual distortion and cryptic dialogue seemed deliberately there to keep you from enjoying a frightening depiction of a possible future. It was very very difficult for me to to find something purely enjoyable as opposed to merely interesting. I think of it as an admirable failure not unlike Aeon Flux, another inseparable combination of good and bad. That said, I think Quintet is a fascinating idea: The world is over and people are left with a game. A remake that leaves behind all the unnecessary things and emphasizes the game (and clearly explains it) could be very successful.
shareI understand your frustration with this film, and I agree with much of what you say about finding it thoughtfully stimulating rather than merely entertaining. By the end of film the world, as we hope to know it, is still (and only) represented by the Paul Newman character. St. Christopher pursues him with the intention of killing him, but then St. Christopher dies rather clumsily in the process of doing so. Essex/Redstone (Paul Newman) has rejected the entire endgame that this sad world has devolved to. He trudges off into the blinding expansive of snow and ice from which he emerged in the first frames of the film. His rejection of the dying city represents hope, and the innate, rebellious power of the human spirit.
share I disagree; what we see is not simply another ' bleak' future movie, but a strong tale of morality and the soul; 'Grigor' is obviously the devil...these people don't HAVE to play, but they do anyway....human nature to destroy; as for being 'clear', it is VERY clear if one simply pays attention....unfortunately, we have all been jaded by movies aimed at folks w/ little attention span, me especially.
it should be obvious that some kind of deadly game is being played, and it is connected to the board game; even the game-board itself is 'satanic' (5-sided), and nihilistic. I don't really like altman because he obfuscates the obvious, but never enough to destroy the image.
i just saw it. the atmosphere was amazing. the ice, the dogs the clothes, the buildings, wow. i'd have to give it a 7 or 8. stilted dialogue though.. were they improvising, based on Altmans pre-issued parameters i wonder?
I just saw it, too... I like Fernando Rey's hat especially.
sharethat was a wild hat. i wonder where it is now.
the game pieces were interesting.
I agree... I guess according to the bonus material Altman's son picked out the game pieces and other stuff from thrift stores and random sources. But my gosh that puffy wizard hat came straight of a cereal commercial. Wirklich großartig...
This movie is really strange. I've seen many cinematic oddities and Quintet has to top the list for sheer un-sell-ability. A possible future, full of aging and desperate, snowbound people. Stilted dialogue must have resulted (as you said) from the Altman modus of group improvisation applied to abstruse subject matter.
I grudgingly purchased the Altman DVD Boxset. I only did this because I am a Paul Newman completist and I wanted Quintet as part of my collection. I re-watched it and found that I did enjoy watching the restored picture (as opposed to the VHS I had).
Whilst it is very strange, I have seen more crap produced today, than this movie.
PS - What was Newman thinking? Well from his biography, his son died shortly before Altman decided to make the Quintet. Newman's desperation to again work with Altman and try to keep himself busy after Scott Newman's death, led to him signing on for Quintet.
I read an interview where Altman states that this was supposed to be his vision of the world he saw in the future. He went to his friends and they collaborated on a story of lost hope and last dreams unrealized. Lionel Chetwynd, who made the haunting "Hanoi Hilton" had seen many atrocities in his military days and was called upon to bring a sort of, game of death to an actual realization. The result, was Quintet. The rules were simple. Kill or be killed. Throw Pat Resnick into the storymix and you have a very interesting tale of bleak locations and even bleaker people. In a cold world, you will have cold people. In a man's world, you will eventually end up being eaten by dogs. Coincidentally, man's best friend.
Also, Tom Pierson should be given kudos for some of the most alarming, yet beautiful music to grace this blank white canvas.
I really appreciate this film for what it is, only. It's not a great depiction of a game of death, but it is a chilling parallel to our lives, now.
Who is the most important person in your life? If you answered "you", then you're on the right track.
I did not like it at all. It commited the worst offence that a movie can, It was boring. I do not need explosions and car crashes, I do not need mile a minute jump cuts, I can enjoy the relaxed pace of Tarkovsky, or Malick. Here the diologue was so dead, it robbed the picture of any interest, and I love Science Fiction. Altman has done brilliant movies, this featured none of his trademark touches. It was a spectacle sans Spectacle, a drama devoid of movement, it was visually constipated, and it featured an ensemble of players without a clue.
Paul Newman had nothing to work with. Altmans foray into icy isolationism would be much better handled in his later films. Quintet must be regarded as the directors lowpoint, better to be relegated to some dusty VCR pile, and forgotten.
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You are not alone! I like this film! It is really sad, that i cannot find this film on DVD with the German language. I still hope that Fox ( or whoever has the rights for the film ) will release such a DVD.
the film was unique, exotic, thematically & visually provocative. i don't care if a lot of people may not appreciate it as some of us do.
odd thing is, i can't watch nashville, but it is considered one of his finer films.
altman was very unique, and all of his films are unique, one from another.
mcCabe & mrs. miller and this film are the ones that reached me, of all his work.
in a world where everyone has an opinion on everything, you get a lot of bad opinions - me