A Prairie Home Companion

Picturehouse unspooled this quirky valentine to the old-fashioned American virtues of Garrison Keillor's beloved radio show A Prairie Home Companion for Showest convention exhibitors Wednesday. For me, the movie went down like a warming shot of aged whiskey. It follows the usual Robert Altman structure: he elegantly cuts back and forth between different groups of people engaged in some event--in this case the closing night performance of a live musical radio show, A Prairie Home Companion, hosted by Keillor, at a theater scheduled for demolition. The movie features a lot of singing as well as backstage shenanigans. Its most delightful moments come from two sets of scene-chewing country singers played by Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin and Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly. Keillor and Altman collaborated on the script, which clearly comes from two men who are closer to the ends of their lives than the beginning. A sad cloud of loss hangs over the proceedings. An era is ending, and as we watch the movie we know that it's also true in real life. Here at Showest, in fact, there's been some discussion about movie theaters needing to reclaim their connection with their local communities. But mostly there's talk of using digital cinema to show more Superbowl-style ads and sporting events. The end of an era indeed.