Ragtime

Directed by Milos Forman, Ragtime follows several characters, including Howard E. Rollins Jr.’s Coalhouse Walker Jr., Elizabeth McGovern’s Evelyn Nesbit, and James Cagney’s Rhinelander Waldo, as their lives intersect in early 1900s New York City. Filmmaker Forman, armed with a screenplay by Michael Weller, delivers an ambitious and agreeably sprawling epic that benefits from its myriad of eye-popping attributes, such as the larger-than-life production design and stellar performances, and there’s little doubt, certainly, that the perpetually watchable atmosphere is heightened by the recurring emphasis on compelling characters and memorable digressions – although, by that same token, it’s clear that some subplots are eventually rendered moot by a third act focused on Rollins Jr.’s vengeance-fuelled figure. (This is particularly true of Evelyn Nesbit, who essentially vanishes from the picture beyond a certain point.) By the time the periodically enthralling final stretch rolls around, with this portion of the proceedings containing an absolutely riveting encounter between Coalhouse and Moses Gunn’s Booker T. Washington, Ragtime has confirmed its place as a mostly stirring endeavor that ultimately feels like it should be longer than its 155 minutes (ie the narrative could use more space to breathe).

***1/2 out of ****