KANSAS CITY (56)

Directed by: Robert Altman

Starring: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Miranda Richardson, Harry Belafonte

The Pitch: Kansas City, circa 1930 : a hard-boiled young woman kidnaps a local big-shot's wife, so he'll intervene to save her husband from the hoods who want to kill him.

Theo Sez: Generally under-rated, though it's not an easy film to like, curiously tentative both about forging a coherent theme and coming to a head dramatically : narrative is fragmented but the various strands seem remote from each other, neither overlapping nor providing points of contrast (as they did in SHORT CUTS) - it feels less like various stories coalescing than a single story distractedly told. The distractions - Belafonte's speech about white greed, Leigh's line that "they're whoever they're paid to be - this is America, lady!", the robbery in blackface, the connection between hoods and politicians, the interludes of period jazz (played by black musicians in crooked bars), the fact that it all takes place on an election day - don't really have much to do with each other, but they all link up to the same theme, the corrupt (and racist) system of gangster capitalism that shaped America : it's a film of frictions, even the jazz doing a Duellin' Saxophones routine, which may be why it's not too important for the frictions (whether personal or societal) to be resolved - indeed, the conclusion (Seldom Seen putting Black Pride above good business sense) seems to promise even more conflict. Narrative-wise it's a grab-bag, shapeless and unclassifiable, apparently tailor-made for waffly critics to ramble about and - with its thin plotting and skin-deep characters - audiences to feel alienated by. Best seen in terms of jazz, a weak backbeat of story grounding a selection of amusing and /or stimulating riffs, best appreciated in modest, intimate surroundings (I'd be a lot less forgiving if I'd had to schlep off to a cinema for this) ; it may take a second listen to discover how - if at all - it all fits together.