Alan Rudolph
 

How many of you are familiar with the director Alan Rudolph?

His recent films include
-The Secret lives of dentists (which I did not like)
-Trixie (which I did not see, but I believe got good reviews)

Several years ago, he also directed "Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle," which I thought was quite entertaining.

And in the 80s, he directed two films I thought were very good, kind of quirky and ignored by most people:

-Trouble in Mind, with Kris Kristofferen and Keith Carradine.

-Choose Me, with Caradine, Genevieve Bujold and Leslie Ann Warren.

Though I really liked these last two movies, they seem to have been totally overlooked.

Anyone have any opinions about Rudolph's films?

Re: Alan Rudolph
 

I've never heard of him, and pride myself on the oblique and unusual or outside the main thoroughfare when it comes to movies.

Re: Alan Rudolph
 

I just remembered another good movie he did, "The Moderns."

I do recommend people check out some of these movies, particularly Choose Me.

FWIW, this is a review by Roger Ebert

Re: Alan Rudolph
 

he did Breakfast of Champions and somehow ended up with a worst-case scenario film.

but, on the flip side, Songwriter is better than you'd expect. it isn't good, but better than you'd expect...

Re: Alan Rudolph
 

Here is another review, which refers to Rudolph as a protege of Altman:

edited so that I don't just quote the whole review: here is the review

Re: Alan Rudolph
 

wynton,

you probably shouldn't be reposting entire reviews.

Re: Alan Rudolph
 

Ok, I fixed that link (as you were right).

I'm going to just post an excerpt of a review of "The Moderns," because the more I think about Rudolph, the more I believe he is worth watching.

Full review is here.

And this is an excerpt:

"Call it Rudolphworld. Call it Alan's Place. As created by director Alan Rudolph, it is a place of eccentricity over explanation, weird and wondrous over linear and logical. It can be anywhere -- rainy Seattle ("Trouble in Mind"), tan-scaped L.A. ("Welcome to L.A."), an unnamed spot on earth ("Choose Me") or in the hereafter ("Made in Heaven"). But the cosmic rules always apply.

Now in "The Moderns," Rudolphworld takes over 1920s Paris with its own sensory elegance, pseudo-legend and wry observations on art, fakery, business and plagiarism. And Rudolph gooses the romantic locals -- Gertrude Stein, et. al. -- in the process. So you get Keith Carradine, Rudolph's usual frontman, rubbing elbows with drunken boor "Hemingway"; Wallace Shawn whining around a haughty "Stein"; and cold-blooded businessman John Lone stalking the cafes for hot properties on canvas (his motives not to be confused, of course, with a certain West Coast dream factory with profit in mind)."

Re: Alan Rudolph
 

He was huge in the 80's because of Trouble in Mind. He also made Divine's last film, if I recall correctly. Trouble in Mind was really good.

Re: Alan Rudolph
 

I really liked Choose Me and Trouble in Mind. Afterglow is pretty great, too. He's a disciple of Robert Altman, and you can really see that in his films. He's never made a truly great film, though. I think Choose Me might be his best.