The title of today’s blog is from one of my favourite directors: Woody Allen. Revered, controversial, polarising: Allen has been making Hollywood films since the 1970s and continues to turn out critically acclaimed films. His latest, Whatever Works, will be released this week and I for one can’t wait to reacquaint myself with this iconic directorial figure.
My opinion of Woody Allen is a little like the main characters in his films: neurotic, uncertain and at times hard to accept. Take for example the one and a half Allen films I saw today: Scoop (0.5) and Husbands and Wives (1.0).
Scoop I got for two reasons: Woody Allen and Scarlett Johanssen. I would be lying to say that the latter wasn’t more of a driving factor but the partnership between the two had created great films in Match Point and Vickie Christina Barcelona and I wanted to complete my collection. Unfortunately the DVD will remain merely a placeholder in my collection: it was so cringe-inducing that I had to stop it half-way through before I was too disheartened. Johanssen was obviously so heavily under the influence of Allen during the film that it was like watching a female version of him on the screen and I couldn’t stand it. Hence my contradiction: while I love the feel and essence of his films (especially his directorial features) there is something about his neurosis that comes through in his acting that I can’t stand. The small, neurotic, Jewish aspects that so infuriate also make the films so adorable.
Husbands and Wives is a perfect example of this allure. Made in 1992, it is the perfect example of the Allen film making magic. Neurotic, unstable, illogical characters inhabit a world of flux in which the self doubts which we all face play havoc with their seemingly ordered existence. This is classic Woody Allen: himself in the lead role, the rambling and sparse storyline, the documentary style camera and pacing, a great ensemble cast and clever writing. It is everything a great thoughtful movie can be and it was a joy to watch. Yet these same elements mixed together in Scoop were driving me mad: the neurotic writer so fearful of criticism and change that was endearing in Husbands and Wives was merely an annoying, neurotic magician fearful of change in Scoop.
All in all though, Allen is deservedly recognised as one of the great directors. While he may come out with a shocker once in a while, his formula works more often than not and he has a great sense of what works on the big screen. I think the reviewer from the Sydney Morning Herald put it best when he finished his review for Whatever Works: a Woody film for Woody watchers.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment