History Film / ShortCuts

* AdaptationExpansion: The short stories by Raymond Carver on which the script was based did not share characters (and were not originally published in the same anthology as each other, although an anthology of the relevant stories was published as a tie-in to the film); the connections between the players in the various subplots were invented for the film. Moreover, the characters of Tess and Zoe Trainer were invented for the screenplay.

''Film/ShortCuts'' is a 1993 film that is directed by Creator/RobertAltman. This is a HyperlinkStory following 23 "ordinary" people, including eight couples, a baker, and a little kid, who go through their ordinary lives but several end in death. Each story thread has loose connections with some of the others, and most are [[LeftHanging unresolved at the end]]. The film was based off of nine short stories written by Raymond Carver.

Next door to the Finnigans are jazz singer Tess Trainer (Annie Ross) and her cellist daughter Zoe (Lori Singer); relations between them are difficult due to Tess' alcoholism and Zoe's growing depression. At a concert given by Zoe's chamber ensemble, the audience includes surgeon Ralph Wyman (Matthew Modine), who later operates on Casey Finnigan, and his artist wife Marian (Julianne Moore). They strike up a conversation with the couple sitting next to them, unemployed fishing enthusiast Stuart Kane (Fred Ward) and his party clown wife Claire (Anne Archer); the Wymans spontaneously invite the Kanes to dinner the following Sunday, with Stuart promising to bring the best catch from his upcoming fishing weekend. The Wymans' marriage is strained due to an adulterous affair Marian had some years earlier, while the Kanes' marriage is tested when Stuart and his fishing buddies discover a dead body on their trip and wait until they return three days later to inform the police, to Claire's disgust.

* HyperlinkStory: Zoe and Tess Trainer live next door to Howard and Ann Finnigan, whose son Casey is hit by Doreen Piggot's car the morning she is hit on by Stuart Kane, who along with his wife Claire met Ralph Wyman (who operates on Casey Finnigan when he is brought to hospital in a coma) and his wife Marian at a concert featuring Zoe the previous evening, while Marian is the sister of Sherri Shepard, whose husband Gene (who at one point pulls Claire Kane over for driving too slowly) is having an affair with Betty Weathers, and the Finnigans' pool cleaner is Jerry Kaiser, who with his wife Lois is a friend of Doreen's daughter Honey Bush and her husband Bill... and so on, and so on, and so on.

* AdaptationExpansion: The short stories by Raymond Carver on which the script was based did not share characters; the connections between the players in the various subplots were invented for the film.

* FourLinesAllWaiting: The film intercuts ''nine'' subplots over the course of several days in Greater Los Angeles.

Marian's sister Sherri (Madeleine Stowe) is married to highway patrolman Gene Shepard (Tim Robbins); she is aware of his many extramarital affairs, but seems to enjoy listening to the far-fetched lies he tells to cover them up. Frustrated by the barking of the family dog, he puts him in the car and leaves him by the side of the road, but has a change of heart when he sees how upset his children are at the dog's disappearance. One of Gene's lovers is recent divorcée Betty Weathers (Frances [=McDormand=]), whose husband, Stormy (Peter Gallagher), is one of the pilots spraying for medflies. When she leaves with their young son Chad for a weekend with yet another boyfriend, Stormy lets himself into their house and proceeds to take "division of assets" to its logical extreme by chainsawing every piece of furniture in the house in half except his mother's grandfather clock and Chad's television.

* DisposingOfABody: It happens offscreen, but the body found by Stuart's group of fishermen.

* DysfunctionJunction: There's hardly a functional marriage or family in the film. Howard and Ann Finnigan are emotionally detached, Ralph Wyman is incensed to learn that Marian had an affair years earlier, Claire Kane is horrified by Stuart's callousness in not reporting the dead body he found on his fishing trip for three days, Jerry Kaiser is jealous of Lois' phone sex clients (even though he can have actual sex with her), Earl and Doreen Piggot fight constantly, Gene Shepard has had so many affairs that Sherri has long since stopped caring, Stormy Weathers commits large-scale property damage to get back at his soon-to-be ex-wife Betty, Bill Bush may not mistreat Honey (though his photos of her bruise make-up lead Gordon to suspect otherwise) but has a roving eye, and Tess and Zoe Trainer have been unable to communicate with each other for years.

As the film opens, helicopters are spraying pesticide to combat a medfly infestation in Greater Los Angeles, during which we are introduced to the main characters. TV pundit Howard Finnigan (Bruce Davison) and his wife Ann (Andie [=MacDowell=]) have ordered an expensive custom birthday cake from baker Andy Bitkower (Lyle Lovett) for their son Casey, but when he is hit by a car and later goes into a coma, he is rushed to hospital, and the cake is forgotten, to Bitkower's mounting anger. In the hospital, Howard has an awkward reunion with his estranged father Paul (Jack Lemmon).

* HarmfulToMinors: Used, when the cop's daughter enters parents' room while..., and averted, with the sexual phone calls while feeding the kids.

* WhatTheHellHero: Claire calls Stuart out on continuing a fishing trip after discovering a dead body in the river.

Next door to the Finnigans are jazz singer Tess Trainer (Annie Ross) and her classically-trained cellist daughter Zoe (Lori Singer); relations between them are difficult due to Tess' alcoholism and Zoe's growing depression. At a concert given by Zoe's chamber ensemble, the audience includes surgeon Ralph Wyman (Matthew Modine), who later operates on Casey Finnigan, and his artist wife Marian (Julianne Moore). They strike up a conversation with the couple sitting next to them, unemployed fishing enthusiast Stuart Kane (Fred Ward) and his party clown wife Claire (Anne Archer); the Wymans spontaneously invite the Kanes to dinner the following Sunday, with Stuart promising to bring the best catch from his upcoming fishing weekend. The Wymans' marriage is strained due to an adulterous affair Marian had some years earlier, while the Kanes' marriage is tested when Stuart and his fishing buddies discover a dead body on their trip and wait until they return three days later to inform the police, to Claire's disgust.

The driver of the car that hit Casey, waitress Doreen Piggott (Lily Tomlin), is in an on-off marriage with alcoholic limo driver Earl (Tom Waits), whom she thinks may have molested Honey (Lili Taylor), her daughter from a previous marriage. Honey's husband Bill Bush (Robert Downey, Jr.) is a make-up artist, and while they are housesitting for another couple, he takes pictures of her after applying make-up that makes her look as though she has been savagely beaten. Their friend Jerry Kaiser (Chris Penn) is the Finnigans' pool cleaner; his wife Lois (Jennifer Jason Leigh) operates a phone sex line out of their home, indulging her customers' desires while changing diapers (to the frustration of Jerry, who wonders why she never talks like that to him).

* DisposingOfABody: It happens offscreen, but the body found by Stuart's group of fishermen.
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Zoe Trainer]] finally collapses under the weight of her emotional isolation and the fact that [[spoiler:her mother, Tess, is too drunk to notice her depression]].

* HyperlinkStory: Zoe and Tess Trainer live next door to Howard and Ann Finnigan, whose son Casey is hit by Doreen Piggott's car the morning she is hit on by Stuart Kane, who along with his wife Claire met Ralph Wyman (who operates on Casey Finnigan when he is brought to hospital in a coma) and his wife Marian at a concert featuring Zoe the previous evening, while Marian is the sister of Sherri Shepard, whose husband Gene (who at one point pulls Claire Kane over for driving too slowly) is having an affair with Betty Weathers, and the Finnigans' pool cleaner is Jerry Kaiser, who with his wife Lois is a friend of Doreen's daughter Honey Bush and her husband Bill... and so on, and so on, and so on.
* InfantImmortality: [[spoiler: Subverted when Casey dies from his injuries]].
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters

* TooDumbToLive: Casey Finnigan, who runs out in front of a clearly visible car, then refuses the help of the driver Doreen after she hits him.

As the film opens, helicopters are spraying pesticide to combat a medfly infestation in Greater Los Angeles, during which we are introduced to the main characters. TV pundit Howard Finnigan and his wife Ann have ordered an expensive custom birthday cake from baker Andy Bitkower for their son Casey, but when he is hit by a car and later goes into a coma, he is rushed to hospital, and the cake is forgotten, to Bitkower's mounting anger. In the hospital, Howard has an awkward reunion with his estranged father Paul.

Next door to the Finnigans are jazz singer Tess Trainer and her classically-trained cellist daughter Zoe; relations between them have become strained due to Tess' alcoholism and Zoe's growing depression. At a concert given by Zoe's chamber ensemble, the audience includes surgeon Ralph Wyman (who later operates on Casey Finnigan) and his artist wife Marian, who strike up a conversation with the couple sitting next to them, unemployed fishing enthusiast Stuart Kane and his party clown wife Claire; the Wymans spontaneously invite the Kanes to dinner the following Sunday, with Stuart promising to bring the best catch from his upcoming fishing weekend. The Wymans' marriage is strained due to an adulterous affair Marian had some years earlier, while the Kanes' marriage is tested when Stuart and his fishing buddies discover a dead body on their trip and wait until they return three days later to inform the police, to Claire's disgust.

Marian's sister Sherri is married to highway patrolman Gene Shepard; she is aware of his many extramarital affairs, but seems to enjoy listening to the far-fetched lies he tells to cover them up. Frustrated by the barking of the family dog, he puts him in the car and leaves him by the side of the road, but has a change of heart when he sees how upset his children are at the dog's disappearance. One of Gene's lovers is recent divorcée Betty Weathers, whose husband, Stormy, is one of the pilots spraying for medflies. When she leaves with their young son for a weekend with yet another boyfriend, Stormy lets himself into their house and proceeds to take "division of assets" to its logical extreme by chainsawing every piece of furniture in the house in half except his mother's grandfather clock and his son's television.

The driver of the car that hit Casey, waitress Doreen Piggott, is in an on-off marriage with alcoholic limo driver Earl, whom she thinks may have molested Honey, her daughter from a previous marriage. Honey's husband Bill Bush is a make-up artist, and while they are housesitting for another couple, he takes pictures of her after applying make-up that makes her look as though she has been savagely beaten. Their friend Jerry Kaiser is the Finnigans' pool cleaner; his wife Lois operates a phone sex line out of their home, indulging her customers' desires while changing diapers (to the frustration of Jerry, who wonders why she never talks like that to him).

The film was nominated for AcademyAward Best Director and won Golden Globe for Best Screenplay. The Film currently holds a [[http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/short_cuts/ 94% on RottenTomatoes.]]

* AllStarCast

* DirtyCop: Gene Sheppard mostly uses his badge as an excuse to pull over attractive women and ask them for dates.

* DirtyCop
* DivorceAssetsConflict: A husband, Stormy Weathers, facing an impending messy divorce saws every piece of the couple's furniture in two.
** Except for the TV and the clock. He also cuts her clothes, and '''EVERYTHING''' he finds within the house, with scissors.

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: Zoe Trainer]].

* MeddlesomePatrolman: Gene takes advantage of his uniform to pull over good-looking women and ask them for dates.
** He also uses it to get back his own dog.

* PleasePutSomeClothesOn: Ralph twice deals with this, once when walking in on his wife Marian's friend posing for a nude portrait, and again when Marian berates him while ironing the skirt she just spilled a drink on.

* PunchDrunkLove: Earl

* TooDumbToLive: Casey Finnigan, who runs out in front of a clearly visible car, then refuses the help of the driver Doreen after she hits him.

''Film/ShortCuts'' is a 1993 film that is directed by Creator/RobertAltman. This is a HyperlinkStory following 22 "ordinary" people, including eight couples, a baker, and a little kid, who go through their ordinary lives but several end in death. Each story thread has loose connections with some of the others, and most are [[LeftHanging unresolved at the end.]] The film was based off of nine short stories written by Raymond Carver.

* ConvenientComa

* PleasePutSomeClothesOn: Dr. Ralph twice deals with this, once when walking in on his wife's friend posing for a nude portrait, and again when his wife berates him while bottomless.
* PunchDrunkLove: Earl

''Film/ShortCuts'' is a 1993 film that is directed by Creator/RobertAltman. The story follows 22 "ordinary" people, including two couples, a baker, and a little kid, who go through their ordinary lives but still most end in death. Each story has a loose connection from the last story with many [[LeftHanging loose ends.]] The film was based off of nine short stories written by Raymond Carver.

* AlwaysMurder: The premise of the story.

* DisposingOfABody
* HarmfulToMinors : Used, when the cop's daughter enters parents' room while..., and averted, with the sexual phone calls while feeding the kids.

* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: A few of the deaths end this way.

* NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught: What Gene, the cop, goes by.

* PunchDrunkLove: Earl
* TenLittleMurderVictims: Subverted, since there are 22 people.

[[caption-width-right:213:[[EdgarAllanPoe Looks familiar....]]]]

[[quoteright:213:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/SHORT_CUTS_1993_The_Criterion_Collection_265_2_DVD9s_2004_1338.jpg]]

''Film/ShortCuts'' is a 1993 film that is directed by RobertAltman. The story follows 22 "ordinary" people, including two couples, a baker, and a little kid, who go through their ordinary lives but still most end in death. Each story has a loose connection from the last story with many [[LeftHanging loose ends.]] The film was based off of nine short stories written by Raymond Carver.

* DivorceAssetsConflict: A husband facing an impending messy divorce saws every piece of the couple's furniture in two.

''Film/ShortCuts'' is a 1993 film that is directed by Robert Altman. The story follows 22 "ordinary" people, including two couples, a baker, and a little kid, who go through their ordinary lives but still most end in death. Each story has a loose connection from the last story with many [[LeftHanging loose ends.]] The film was based off of nine short stories written by Raymond Caver.