A Wedding

As I recently watched A WEDDING for the first time on late night Japanese television, I admit that I didn't get into it right away. But from about a half hour deep and on I was hypnotized. The best thing about any Altman film is not the immediate story it appears to be conveying but rather the heavily detail-oriented world in which the story plays out. The world here, similar in period detail to an earlier great '70's film by Michael Ritchie called SMILE, is that of sprawling middle class wealth and comfort. Many of the characters' motivations stem from this overwealth and drive them towards insatiable sexual appetites. I am particularly struck by a scene that takes place on a California freeway. There's less traffic here in a midday scene than there would be these days on any given night at 3 AM. Just as I felt as though I was completely tuned into this world, Pam Dawber rides into the center of the film on a horse while a man on a motorcycle almost causes her to fall and I cannot for the life of me explain how or why the symbolism here struck me as hard as it did. This was an amazing visual film. I suppose in the far flung future when vitual reality technologies are a reality, programmers seeking to recreate this era will use this film for reference as they would be well served in so doing.