3 min. thoughts: The Player

The Player is the quintessential movie buff’s film. And beyond that, all comers—not just the buffs— can feel this uniquely crafted, darkly comic thriller. As a brilliantly pointed satire of Hollywood it is steeped in film lore and meta commentary. We’re talking ‘movies within movies’. So meta, in fact, the famous eight minute tracking shot that sets the hook of The Player features two characters walking the studio lot saying, “Pictures they make these days are all MTV: cut, cut, cut. The opening shot of Welles' Touch of Evil was six and a half minutes long. He set up the whole picture with that one tracking shot.”

The plight of the Hollywood screenwriter is a classic trope. Passionate auteurs who lay out their vision on the page in painstaking detail, making pitches in elevators and cocktail parties, shopping a script around just to have some studio exec reshape your baby in their image. Original ideas are not what is valued, but rather the rehashing of tried and true formulas. What was true almost 33 years ago at this movie’s release is even more biting now, sadly. Franchises are milked for every cent, sequels are no longer a surprise; they’re  expected. And we seem to be stuck cashing in on this nostalgia economy of remakes and reboots. 

By the early 90s, director Robert Altman had already solidified himself as a pioneer of the “new Hollywood” era of the 70s, and this was a return to form after a quiet decade. The cameos come out in droves as everyone wanted work with Altman, and the amount of actors and writers who slip in as themselves is too many to count. Beyond just the merit of its story, The Player is beautifully shot. They intended to make a “modern period piece”, according to production designer Stephan Altman (thanks Criterion bonus features). A contemporary early 90s film dressed in a way that gave the vibes of the old Hollywood studio system. 

Now if you marry that existential struggle with elements of murder mystery and tinted with film noir, you have yourself a picture here like no other.