Recent Watching: Between the LInes

Last night I watched the 1977 Joan Micklin Silver movie Between the Lines. The Criterion Channel summarizes the movie:

Inspired by director Joan Micklin Silver’s time working at New York’s storied alt weekly the “Village Voice,” this unsung gem of 1970s slice-of-life seriocomedy offers an incisive, bittersweet look at a shifting media landscape that feels as fresh and relevant as ever. At the offices of a Boston independent newspaper, the staff members—including music critic Max (Jeff Goldblum, in one of his first leading roles), news reporter Harry (John Heard) and photographer Abbie (Lindsay Crouse)—enjoy a positive and open-minded work environment. However, it seems as though their relatively carefree days are numbered when the owner of a major publishing company buys the paper, leading to more money, but big changes.

To me, the movie was episodic in a similar way to Robert Altman's Nashville. As the late Roger Ebert wrote about Nashville in his Great Movies series:

Because Altman himself effortlessly swims in a sea of friends and associates, he finds it easy to make movies that do the same thing, and what's amazing is not how many characters there are in "Nashville" (more than 25 significant speaking roles) but how many major characters. To get into this movie at all is to be given scenes of weight and depth, so that your character makes an impression. And there are not just many characters but many themes. It is easy to follow the political commentary in the film (Hal Philip Walker's campaign could stand for all the dissidents since, from Jesse Ventura to Ralph Nader). More subtle is a thread that examines country music lyrics as they apply to the lives of the characters.

I think what Nashville has in common with this movie is that it trusts the audience to be able keep the many characters straight. Between the Lines looks into the lives of several employees of a fictional Boston newspaper. And you follow, in various ways, at least nine different characters. The characters are played by a variety of actors who went on to bigger things: John Heard, Jeff Goldblum, Lindsey Crouse, Bruno Kirby, Joe Morton, and Marilu Henner.