Nashville: A City On Film at Belcourt Theatre

(50th Anniversary screening with post-screening discussion w/ Keith Carradine)

I moved to Nashville two years ago today, so no better time than to catch Robert Altman’s love letter to Music City on the big screen with Nashville (1975). Altman captures the city of Nashville, TN perfectly with its satirical southern charm, proud of their roots in country music and southern culture. The film takes us on a beautiful journey of 1970s Nashville, taking trips to the Grand Ole Opry, Exit/In, Opryland, but in the final ten minutes, we are woken up to the grim reality of America in not only the 60s-70s, but still today.

Although Nashville, Tennessee has changed drastically in the last 50 years, becoming more of a vacation spot, filled with fake personalities, Robert Altman’s Nashville still has political ideas that are still seen in America today. It’s incredible to watch a film that is 50 years old, yet still has relevance today. And just another example of why older films should still be celebrated.

In the post-screening discussion, Keith Carradine talked about his character Tom, whose personality is in contrast with Carradine’s charm. And he gave a quote that stuck with me, and shows why I find cinema is so beautiful;
“On set, it was a man who hated his character. On screen, it was a character that hated himself.”
Carradine also explained that him bringing his guitar to Altman’s parties was what inspired Altman to make Nashville. He wanted to include Carradine’s original songs and many of the songs you hear in the film are originally written by the actors or writers. Carradine’s “I’m Easy” won an Oscar for Best Original Song. Carradine was a delight, and his stories of Robert Altman were hilarious.