Love and Death

Boris is in love with his cousin when France declares war on Russia. It gives Woody Allen and Diane Keaton an opportunity to wax philosophically about God, morality, and wheat.

In case you didn't know, Woody Allen loves Ingmar Bergman. There are at least two allusions to Bergman films in Love and Death. It makes sense as the great Swede also plummed the depths of religious quanderies such as God's silence.

But L&D is also an immaculate period piece. Sure, it's peppered with jokes. But, like Allen said in Sleeper, it's a defence mechanism. Who can look death in the face without a joke or two?

I give this movie somewhere between four and four and a half stars.

Here is an example of how watching a movie is different from remembering it. Because I think watching Love and Death is perhaps a better experience than Sleeper. Although, when I reflect on both, I like Sleeper better. Sleeper's high points are higher than Love and Death's, whereas Love and Death is more consistently fine.