"The deeply human approach to Joanne...makes Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean such a welcome surprise among trans representation in 20th-century cinema."

Yes, the characters are warped by their illusions, but Altman has a poetic intuition of the way illusions wrap around people’s lives, and his technique -- all the artifice he brings to the staging -- becomes one with the themes of illusion and deception.

We could make a number of conjectures about Altman's relationship to the cast of Come Back, but I do have to say it boasts one hell of an ensemble.

Delivers a visually compelling and dramatically satisfying adventure into the merging of theater and film. The material's dissection of the past, obsession, and the protective ways of memory also add to the endeavor, which is one of Altman's best.