Luck, Trust & Ketchup

You may not have seen Robert Altman’s genuinely ground-breaking 1993 drama Short Cuts. But you probably have seen Magnolia, Crash or Syriana, in which case you will have unconsciously appreciated its daring and sublime approach to ensemble storytelling. This documentary provides an invaluable record of the Raymond Carver inspired production, but its also an intimate and candid insight into the methods and attitudes of one of American cinema’s true mavericks. The cast interviews are refreshingly honest and insightful (Downey’s wired presence has a poignancy given his subsequent tribulations) and the on-set footage is intimate and fascinating. But Altman is undeniably the star. Always erudite, the director never loses his cool as he describes his attraction to the material, fights his corner over the controversial nudity, gauges performances from disinterested children, gives directions like “Start the pissing!” or receives a touching gift from Carver’s widow, Tess Gallagher. As she says, it all makes you think about “the thingness” of life.