Nashville (1975)

Director: Robert Altman

Like his later Short Cuts (1993), Altman's Nashville is an ensemble drama that juggles numerous storylines - here, the strands are centred around a country music festival in Tennessee. Altman's work remains superior to such descendants as Magnolia, Crash and (argh!) Bobby, due to a lack of heavy-handed, soppy melodrama - though there is plenty of emotional depth.