Altman’s most acclaimed film (it was nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture), Nashville presents twenty-four characters and as many crisscrossing stories in a masterful reinvention of narrative construction, all set to a remarkable sound track of country music that participates wholly in the storytelling. The film is a satirical exploration of the southern city and its music business during one weekend in which a music festival and a political rally coincide. Hypocrisy, greed, and lust run rampant here but the songs are crazy and beautiful and the cast superlative. With its epic scale, cinematic inventiveness, and penetrating political insight, it is one of the great American films.