‘Nashville’: The movie Benny Safdie called “one of the most incredible experiences I’ve had”
In the recent cinematic landscape, there are few figures who have made an impression quite like Benny Safdie. Known initially for his collaborations with brother Josh, which bore the likes of Good Time and Uncut Gems, Safdie is one of the contemporary darlings of American cinema.
Beyond his directorial efforts, though, Safdie has also made waves as an actor and a director. For instance, he has appeared in Licorice Pizza, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret and even Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer as the Hungarian-American theoretical physicist Edward Teller, while also co-creating and writing the black comedy TV series The Curse with Nathan Fielder.
One of the most distinct things about Safdie, though, and certainly one of the reasons why he has enjoyed such success in the film and television industry, is that both he and his brother possess a deep fascination with the medium of cinema itself. Throughout his career, Safdie has often detailed the kinds of movies and film directors that have provided him with the most inspiration or sheer enjoyment.
In fact, in a feature with Rotten Tomatoes, Safdie once named his five favourite movies of all time, and after pointing out the brilliance of Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights and William Friedkin’s The French Connection, he turned his attention to the film that gave him the best cinematic experience, Robert Altman’s Nashville.
“It’s such a world that I didn’t know about, and you have all of these insane concerts in real time with all of these people,” Safdie said of Altman’s 1975 satirical musical comedy-drama featuring a large ensemble cast including David Arkin, Barbara Baxley, Ned Beatty and Karen Black. “All of these emotions and ideas all happening within the performances, and everything is happening almost at the same time.”
The film, praised for its ambitious scope, focuses on a group of people involved in the country and gospel music scene in the Tennessee city of Nashville who are preparing, over the course of five days, for a gala concert for an outside populist candidate running for the American presidency.
Upon watching the film for the first time, Safdie was in awe of Altman’s talent and commitment to filmmaking. “I just kept sitting there, like, how did he do this?” the actor and director noted. “And it just kept happening, scene after scene.” One scene in particular stuck out for Safdie, in which Keith Caradine sings ‘I’m Easy’, with Altman focusing on a number of characters in the crowd, exploring how the song affects them differently.
In fact, Carradine’s ‘I’m Easy’ won the Academy Award for ‘Best Original Song’, while Nashville itself earned a further four Oscar nominations, including ‘Best Picture’. “It’s literally one of the most incredible experiences I’ve had,” Safdie admitted of Altman’s film. “And just going in to listen to these performances and then to recall these emotions that I never had before, but I feel like they’re mine, is incredible.”
The film was simply one that blew Safdie away and he was left with a feeling of wonder at how Altman managed to bring together such a striking production of cinema. “I don’t even understand how they did it with the actual performances, the audience, whatever,” he signed off with his final praise for Nashville. “Incredible”.
