“['Nashville' SPOILERS] From one of the most beautiful movies I've seen, Robert Altman's 'Nashville,' I bring you Barbara Harris's disheveled shih tzu of a character, the down-on-her-luck Winifred, as she finally gets her big singing debut -- after a cynical man in the audience shoots the headliner and the microphone's left unattended in the ensuing fracas. Turns out, Winifred can really sing. I've never known how I'm meant to take this, the last scene. On the one hand, Winifred could be dazed, ensorcelled by her fantasy unfurling so unexpectedly up on stage, unable to take in what's going on -- so we shiver, and we laugh at her in this frigid satire. On the other hand, she could be responding in earnest to that old rhinestone cowboy's plea ("Somebody sing!"). He means that one gunman can't take away Nashville's flair and gumption. But how Winifred belts, I don't think it's "flair" to her. Music can be stripes, stars, spangled -- or, it can bring us together.”
['Nashville' SPOILERS] From one of the most beautiful movies I've seen, Robert Altman's 'Nashville,' I bring you Barbara Harris's disheveled shih tzu of a character, the down-on-her-luck Winifred, as she finally gets her big singing debut -- after a cynical man in the audience shoots the headliner and the microphone's left unattended in the ensuing fracas. Turns out, Winifred can really sing. I've never known how I'm meant to take this, the last scene. On the one hand, Winifred could be dazed, ensorcelled by her fantasy unfurling so unexpectedly up on stage, unable to take in what's going on -- so we shiver, and we laugh at her in this frigid satire. On the other hand, she could be responding in earnest to that old rhinestone cowboy's plea ("Somebody sing!"). He means that one gunman can't take away Nashville's flair and gumption. But how Winifred belts, I don't think it's "flair" to her. Music can be stripes, stars, spangled -- or, it can bring us together.