The Criterion Channel’s retrospective on Robert Altman, the auteur behind masterpieces like Nashville, M*A*S*H, and The Long Goodbye, is a reminder that, not long ago, Hollywood backed maverick filmmakers ready to shake up the medium and the culture at large.

In celebration of what would have been his hundredth birthday, the Criterion Channel is currently featuring an extensive series of films by maverick auteur Robert Altman, who became so renowned in the 1970s that the term “Altmanesque” got bandied about regularly among critics and cinephiles. According to The Big Picture’s Sean Fennessey, whose video essay on Altman accompanies the Criterion series, “Altmanesque” refers to “the subversion of all expected modes in narrative storytelling — in genre, in filmmaking style, in performance.”

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