Try To Talk About Robert Altman, Director Group Portrait Film Characteristics

As montage in the film theory, there is also no clear definition ofensemble film。 But this kind of film mostly appears some generalcharacteristics，such as no absolute leading role and the storyline isnot single but numerous。Multi-character and multi-storyline and complexstructure form the essential feature of ensemble film。A number of directors have produced ensemble films，except theTaiwanese director Edward Yang，the only one who stick to make ensemblefilms with a distinct personal characteristic is Robert Altman。Altmanhas abundant creation in his whole life and his works covers many filmtypes and fields including the fashion industry，the entertainmentindustry and the medical community。His well known works, such as westernfilm《Buffalo Bill and the Indians》，music documentary《Nashville》，detective movie《The long goodbye》, and Family ethics film《Gosford park》prove his prolificacy and versatility。Among his capabilities，the mostlyrespected is the skill of controlling the ensemble and complicatednarrative。This issue mainly analyzes a series of ensemble film produceby Robert Altman and tries to conclude and make clear definition andcognizance of ensemble film which is still remains a new type of film。Some scholars of film theory confuse ensemble film with episode film,but that make the classification more complicated，so episode film is notincluded in ensemble film in the issue。...