The movie takes place in Eastern Washington in the early 1880s, not long before Washington got its statehood. The set was built in British Columbia in a town founded by draft resistors. Leonard Cohen's music throughout is mind-blowing. The opening credit scene is maybe my favorite of all time, and a really beautiful use of Helvetica (actually it might be Akzidenz...?), an interesting juxtaposition of modernism and the frontier. I don't love every Robert Altman movie, but this one is truly sublime.That is the first time I have ever used the word sublime seriously.