A Prairie Home Companion (9 June 2006)
directed by Robert Altman
starring Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Garrison Keillor, Kevin Kline, Lindsay Lohan, Virginia Madsen, John C. Reilly, Maya Rudolph, Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, L. Q. Jones, Sue Scott, Tim Russell, Tom Keith
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MPAA rating: Studio: GreeneStreet Films, Picturehouse Script: Garrison Keillor Music: Annette Kudrak Running time: 105 minutes Tags: angels; Comedy; dead bodies; detectives; Musical; singers Tactical strength: [6/10]
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for risque humor
A Prairie Home Companion depicts the making of a popular radio show. Although Garrison Keillor really does produce a weekly radio show with the name "A Prairie Home Companion," the movie depicts the filming of a show with the same format but in an alternate universe where Keillor's show never received syndication and remained a local radio show. In other words, Robert Altman does not make a documentary, but instead has created a sort of mood piece that attempts to give the audience a sense of the lives and emotions found backstage at a small-town, live radio variety show.
The movie has a thin plot line as a framework for the various character sketches and musical performances. A large corporation has purchased the radio station WLAT, home of the Prairie Home Companion radio show, and has sent an axeman (Tommy Lee Jones) to shut the show down. Everyone at the show knows that they are making the last show, but GK (Garrison Keillor) the show's host refuses to make any announcement to the audience and runs the show just like any other. An angel (Virginia Madsen) appears at various times throughout the live broadcast and interacts with several of the characters. The security guard, Guy Noir (Kevin Klein), believes that she has come to somehow save the show.
The real meat of the film lies in the on-stage performances of the cast. The Johnson sisters, Yolanda (Meryl Streep) and Rhonda (Lily Tomlin), have sung together since childhood and sing old folk songs. Dusty (Woody Harrelson) and Lefty (John C. Reilly) sing old (and sometimes off color) cowboy songs, and Chuck Akers (L. Q. Jones) sings country-western songs. I like all these performances so much that the cuts to backstage scenes usually disappointed me because I would have liked to watch the entire on-stage performance. Sure, you still hear the songs as background music, but hearing a diluted version of a performance doesn't provide the same satisfaction as watching the "live" performance.
As a mood piece, and even as a lament, A Prairie Home Companion works. A radio audience only hears a polished finished production but never gets to see the hectic backstage action required to create such a show. A Prairie Home Companion successfully creates a picture of the tone and timbre of a live radio production from behind the scenes. This film also works as a lament depicting the end of an entire lifestyle and breed of radio production. Even after the final show, the performers continue to look for work at carnivals and fairs. These people have the singing and performing lifestyle integrated so tightly with their personalities that they couldn't change even if they wanted to. And although they received this lifestyle from their parents, they fail to pass the torch on to the next generation. We see this demonstrated as Yolanda tries to interest her daughter Lola (Lindsay Lohan) in performance. Lola does eventually perform for the show, but this doesn't indicate anything more than a one-time performance for her mother. Lola goes on to take a job that requires business-professional attire.
The performances please and provide adequate reason to see the film, but the plot seems just an excuse on which to hang the performances.
