Short Cuts

Short Cuts is a sprawling ensemble drama set in contemporary Los Angeles, where the lives of a large group of characters intersect in ways they rarely notice. A waitress, Doreen Piggot, accidentally strikes a young boy with her car and then drives on; the child later falls into a coma. At the hospital, his grandfather confesses old infidelities to the boy's father, Howard. A baker begins hounding the family when the birthday cake they ordered is never collected. Around these events, other Angelenos go about their days: a helicopter pilot spraying for an insect infestation, a police officer and his wife, a surgeon carrying the loss of a patient, and a newsreader drawn into the family's crisis.

The film is based on stories and a poem by Raymond Carver, with the setting moved to Los Angeles. Robert Altman directed and wrote the screenplay with Frank Barhydt. It was Altman's fourteenth film in chronological order, arriving between The Player and Prêt-à-Porter, and it followed his recent return to commercial and critical attention. Cary Brokaw, Mike Kaplan and David Levy produced it for Fine Line Features and Avenue Pictures. The credited cast runs to 51, among them Andie MacDowell, Bruce Davison, Jack Lemmon, Tim Robbins, Julianne Moore and Tom Waits.

Released on October 1, 1993, the film runs 188 minutes. Its 12 million dollar budget was not recovered at the box office, which reached about 6 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds a 7.2 rating from 712 votes, while critics gave it 7.8 from 61 reviews, a warmer reception than general audiences recorded.