This kind of feeling, perhaps the more brewed and deposited over time, the stronger it will be. Perhaps that's why Robert Altman, who just won the Oscar for Lifetime Achievement, completed this work when he was 81 years old. I don't want to say that this movie is better than "The Best of Time", but "A Prairie Home Companion" is much more mature in the shaping of the situation and mood, as well as the structure and complexity of the film's narrative. The feelings are equally deep, but they don't seem contrived. No wonder Roger Ebert praised it as "so gentle and whimsical, so simple and profound."
It seems to be a story on the stage, but there is a story outside the story, and there is a stage after the stage. Altman started from one point, but gradually extended the latitude and longitude intertwined by time and space. It was like a dream-like life, an ordinary poetic history about endless life.
Further reading
Robert Altman, "Gosford Park", Meryl Streep, Radio Show
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