Manhattan, the last of Woody Allen's movies to be made in the seventies, is probably my favorite. It is a gorgeous film to watch. I've probably seen that movie more often than any of his others. But when I watch it, some things bother me about the plot.
The first line of the movie is given by Allen's friend, Yale: "I think the essence of art is to produce a kind of working through-situation so that you can get in touch with feelings you didn't know you had."
What feelings does Woody Allen have? Is there any new ground being covered here?
The plot is basically that Woody Allen is dating a 17 year old girl for reasons unknown. He continually discourages her, which makes you wonder why he started seeing her in the first place. And then his friend introduces him to his mistress played by Diane Keaton. At first she seems to be annoying, snobbish and opinionated. Which makes her a perfect mate for Allen. They start seeing each other. And then things fall apart.
Allen breaks up with the seventeen year old but then Diane Keaton and Yale get back together and Allen regrets having left the seventeen year old and goes after her. I mean, it is really easy to write this off as neuroses. Allen has problems. He likes younger women. We'll see it over and over in the future, not only in his films but real life.
There is this wonderful scene towards the end where he is giving a list of all of the things that make life worth living. And this time around, when I watched it, I picked up on the opening phrase that got him talking about that stuff. He's recording himself, taking notes for a short story idea. And he says that it is about how people invent neuroses to keep themselves from facing life's larger problems. And maybe that is what Woody is doing. But if that is what he is doing, you'd think he'd be cured by now.
Another big scene of the movie takes place a little earlier where he confronts Yale. Yale is accusing Allen of being too perfect, like a saint. But Allen is saying that all he wants is to be thought well of. Which I don't get from him at all. I don't buy that he is a generally moral person and I don't beleive that he does either. He is a hedonist. He thinks with his body and whatever works, to borrow from a later film, he will do to give himself pleasure.
So, having said all of this, why do I like this movie? Or, to take the focus off myself, what is the redeeming quality? I don't know. It's more than just a beautiful film with a great soundtrack. It has something to do with the ending, probably. He's just realized he's ruined a perfectly good relationship and runs (literally) after Mariel Hemingway and when he sees her in the doorway, "She's Not For Me" by Gershwin starts playing. And it is so sad because Allen has started this pattern in his movies where he does not get the girl.
But, he's looking almost straight at the camera when Mariel gives the last line of the movie: "You have to have a little faith in people."
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Interiors
After Annie Hall, Woody Allen delved even further into the dramatic by getting rid of all humor whatsoever. To achieve this, he's even taken himself out of the picture and painted an internal, drab world of a single family.
The first two and a half minutes are silent, punctuated by the father's words: "I had dropped out of law school when I met Eve [his wife]." And thereafter, changes would be marked by a break of the film's rules. The first external shot occurs after the mother attempts suicide. The first person to wear any kind of color (and it's a bright red) is the father's new lover. And the first sound of music to be heard is after the father remarries. At the end of the movie, after the mother walks into the ocean, the film returns to the beginning. It is silent for almost five minutes, the scenes are indoors and everyone (even the father's new wife) is wearing black.
Woody Allen seems to be at a crossroads. He wants to change and challenge himself. You sense that he is speaking through his characters when they say things like, "These feelings of futility in relation to my work, I mean, just what am I striving to create anyway? To what end? For what purpose? What goal? " and, "I feel a real need to express something, but I don't know what it is I want to express. Or how to express it."
Unfortunately, I don't think this film is the answer. It tries too hard. It is over the top. Everyone is expressing exactly what they are thinking and feeling. Maybe it was cathartic for Allen to make the movie, but it was depressing to watch.
The first two and a half minutes are silent, punctuated by the father's words: "I had dropped out of law school when I met Eve [his wife]." And thereafter, changes would be marked by a break of the film's rules. The first external shot occurs after the mother attempts suicide. The first person to wear any kind of color (and it's a bright red) is the father's new lover. And the first sound of music to be heard is after the father remarries. At the end of the movie, after the mother walks into the ocean, the film returns to the beginning. It is silent for almost five minutes, the scenes are indoors and everyone (even the father's new wife) is wearing black.
Woody Allen seems to be at a crossroads. He wants to change and challenge himself. You sense that he is speaking through his characters when they say things like, "These feelings of futility in relation to my work, I mean, just what am I striving to create anyway? To what end? For what purpose? What goal? " and, "I feel a real need to express something, but I don't know what it is I want to express. Or how to express it."
Unfortunately, I don't think this film is the answer. It tries too hard. It is over the top. Everyone is expressing exactly what they are thinking and feeling. Maybe it was cathartic for Allen to make the movie, but it was depressing to watch.
Annie Hall
Annie Hall is the quintessential Woody Allen movie. One might argue that it is the first Woody Allen movie. Here, I'll argue it.
When I say it is the first Woody Allen movie, it is like saying a story by Kafka is Kafkaesque. It goes beyond the mere fact that it was made by the person and instead indicates that it has all the inherent aspects of everything we have come to know about them and their worldview. Annie Hall is the archetype from which the rest of Woody Allen's career will flow. It has the sucessful urban intellectual, the failed romance with a younger female, the male confidant. For the first time he is taking himself, his material and filmmaking seriously. Of course, his previous movies were good. But they felt like jokes. Even Love and Death, which was really well-made, at times felt more like a vehicle for laughs. Annie Hall is a funny movie. I think it's usually found in the comedy section. But I think of it more as a drama. Because the jokes are services to the plot and not the other way around. I think the people at the Academy Awards must have known these things even then, because Annie Hall is Woody Allen's only Oscar best picture win.
Despite all of the above, I don't like it as much as everyone else seems to. I felt it lost steam about the time Paul Simon comes on the screen and never regains it.
At the end of the movie, Alvie Singer (Woody Allen's character) has just lost what was probably his one true love. He writes an autobiographical play about it and at the end of the play the two main characters make up and stay together. "You're always trying to get things to come out perfectly in art, because it's real difficult in life," Allen says. Which is strange because Annie Hall is Woody Allen's art form but he doesn't make it end up with the traditionally perfect ending of boy gets girl.
I think that ideally, Annie Hall is a really good movie, maybe a perfect movie. I just prefer watching some of his other ones.
When I say it is the first Woody Allen movie, it is like saying a story by Kafka is Kafkaesque. It goes beyond the mere fact that it was made by the person and instead indicates that it has all the inherent aspects of everything we have come to know about them and their worldview. Annie Hall is the archetype from which the rest of Woody Allen's career will flow. It has the sucessful urban intellectual, the failed romance with a younger female, the male confidant. For the first time he is taking himself, his material and filmmaking seriously. Of course, his previous movies were good. But they felt like jokes. Even Love and Death, which was really well-made, at times felt more like a vehicle for laughs. Annie Hall is a funny movie. I think it's usually found in the comedy section. But I think of it more as a drama. Because the jokes are services to the plot and not the other way around. I think the people at the Academy Awards must have known these things even then, because Annie Hall is Woody Allen's only Oscar best picture win.
Despite all of the above, I don't like it as much as everyone else seems to. I felt it lost steam about the time Paul Simon comes on the screen and never regains it.
At the end of the movie, Alvie Singer (Woody Allen's character) has just lost what was probably his one true love. He writes an autobiographical play about it and at the end of the play the two main characters make up and stay together. "You're always trying to get things to come out perfectly in art, because it's real difficult in life," Allen says. Which is strange because Annie Hall is Woody Allen's art form but he doesn't make it end up with the traditionally perfect ending of boy gets girl.
I think that ideally, Annie Hall is a really good movie, maybe a perfect movie. I just prefer watching some of his other ones.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
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.
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.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Sleeper
The opening sequence is beginning to look more like Allen's signature with jazz and stark white credits on a black screen.
Miles Monroe, a health food store owner and clarinetist, is cryogenically frozen after complications getting an ulcer removed and is awoken 200 years later.
This is one of my favorite Woody Allen movies of this era, complete with robots, flying packs, orgasmatrons and the debut of Diane Keaton.
Sleeper is sort of similar to Bananas in that the hero travels far (in this case, through time) and winds up working on the behalf of underground rebels to overthrow a government.
I wonder what exactly Allen had in mind. Because at the end of the movie Diane Keaton says something like "You don't believe in science or political systems. You don't believe in God. What do you believe in?"
To which Allen replies, "Sex and death." Which is the perfect segue into his next movie.
Miles Monroe, a health food store owner and clarinetist, is cryogenically frozen after complications getting an ulcer removed and is awoken 200 years later.
This is one of my favorite Woody Allen movies of this era, complete with robots, flying packs, orgasmatrons and the debut of Diane Keaton.
Sleeper is sort of similar to Bananas in that the hero travels far (in this case, through time) and winds up working on the behalf of underground rebels to overthrow a government.
I wonder what exactly Allen had in mind. Because at the end of the movie Diane Keaton says something like "You don't believe in science or political systems. You don't believe in God. What do you believe in?"
To which Allen replies, "Sex and death." Which is the perfect segue into his next movie.
Everything You Wanted to Kow about Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask)
Sort of maybe based loosely on the book of the same name, Woody illustrates the answers to common sex questions with vignettes. Questions include: do aphrodisiacs work, what happens during erection and what is sodomy?
Occasionally humorous, this movie does more to solidify Woody's obsession with sex as nature's ameliorator. Probably the only thing this movie is known for is him dressed as a sperm.
Occasionally humorous, this movie does more to solidify Woody's obsession with sex as nature's ameliorator. Probably the only thing this movie is known for is him dressed as a sperm.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Some Movies I liked from 2005-2009
Not too long ago, a friend of mine was asking for movie recommendations because she hadn't watched anything in the last five years being busy with raising her family. So I wrote this for her.
2005
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Sort of a comedy film noir with Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer. People like to trace RDJ’s comeback to Iron Man, but it was this movie that first got me to reconsider him.
Murderball
Documentary about paraplegics who play a version of rugby.
Paradise Now
Two Palestinians are chosen to be suicide bombers. I didn’t think I was going to like this movie because I'm not very politically interested in the issues at hand. However I was won over by the daily details of the human story.
Man Push Cart
A heartrending story of a guy who owns one of those hot dog type places just trying to make good in difficult circumstances.
The Cave of the Yellow Dog
Very similar to The Story of the Weeping Camel by the same director. A quotidian look at Mongolian life with the barest pretenses of a plot.
Tiger and the Snow
I love Roberto Benigni. I’m not just saying that for no reason. He directed and acted in this movie. It is an homage to the power of love and poetry and Tom Waits in a cruel and war-torn world.
2006
Little Miss Sunshine
I think I loved this movie because it stars such a panoply of failures. “Divorce? Bankrupt? Suicide? You’re fucking losers!” as Paul Dano’s character succinctly puts it. And despite that, it is funny and charming and a total sleeper hit.
The Fall
I think Dayna Papaleo [movie critic] described this movie as being a cross between Wizard of Oz and The Princess Bride. She probably said other things about it but the basic idea of storytelling and mythical surrealities are what drive this movie.
Volver
This is pretty much the only Pedro Almodovar movie I can stand. And I’m not even sure why. Penelope Cruz was excellent.
Paprika
If you’re not on drugs when watching this movie, you won’t need to be. A cornucopia of color and surrealism meant to tap into the subconscious language of dreams. Don't worry about plot. Just sit back and let your mind bake.
The Bridge
Documentary footage of people actually committing suicide off San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. At first blush it sounds unethical. And probably at twenty-fifth blush it still seems like a bad idea to make and release such a movie. And yet here I am recommending it.
2007
No Country for Old Men
I wasn’t going to see this movie but a friend of mine, David Langley, called me a bad name and told me to just do it. Ok, David, you were right.
Blades of Glory
After watching NCforOM, you may need to lighten up a bit and why not go for a Napoleon Dynamite (whatever his real name is) and Will Ferrell tag team comedy about a male-on-male figure-skating duo?
Eagle vs. Shark
Speaking of Napoleon Dynamite, here’s another movie along the same lines. Starring Flight of the Conchord’s Jemaine Clement, this dead-pan comedy is definitely quirky.
Darjeeling Limited
Underappreciated Wes Anderson flick. I saw it nine times in the theater. Maybe that’s what’s required to start picking up on how cool it is, but I don't think so.
Lars and the Real Girl
Mislabeled as a comedy, on paper it sounds funny. Shy guy orders sex doll and passes it off as a real woman. But this isn’t a funny movie. It is good though.
Control
Further plunging down the depressive hole is this not exactly bio-pic of Joy Division. Not only is it interesting for “factual” info regarding a cool band, but it’s a decent movie film-wise.
King of Kong
Ok, let’s have a little levity again. This documentary follows players of that classic arcade game, King Kong, trying to establish a new record high score. It is both pathetic and fascinating.
2008
The Dark Knight
To all those fools who said that Heath Ledger only got an Oscar because he died, I pose the following question: where was Bernie Mac’s Oscar for Soul Men? There are some things about Dark Knight that make it less than perfect but Heath’s performance more than makes up for them.
Let the Right One in
Going up directly against Twilight, this vampire movie has (at least) one thing Twilight doesn’t: it’s Swedish!
Sunshine Cleaning
I really liked this movie but I can't quite specify what I liked about it. It had a sort of Little Miss Sunshine feeling (same producer, same Alan Arkin) but different.
Synecdoche NY
Phillip Seymour Hoffman had a nice little run and this movie may have killed it. This was Charlie Kauffman's (writer of Being John Malkovitch, Adaptation) directorial debut and you can tell he really wanted to make a splash without diverging from his typical themes of existentialism and navel-gazing.
Religulous
I've never found Bill Maher to be funny. More annoying. However in this documentary, I think he’s really trying to reign it in just a tad (not always successfully). He takes a look at the big three religions (Xianity, Jewdiocity and Muslimism). It’s both insightful and funny.
Baghead
Here’ an underrated movie that slipped under the radar. Filmed in low-budget Blair Witch style, this meta movie documents the filming of a low-budget Blair Witch style horror movie. There’s a lot of sitting around and talking but it also has a pretty cool denouement.
2009
The Informant
I read one review calling this movie a fat Bourne Identity. Be that as it may, Matt Damon has some really great lines in this corporate espionage (maybe a bit misleading) I-wouldn’t-call-it-a-thriller.
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Wes Anderson breaks the mold by not only making an adaptation (of a Roald Dahl book) but also by using stop animation instead of live actors. Despite these breaks from tradition, Anderson manages to completely own this movie. It is simultaneously nothing like and exactly the same as everything else he has made.
Paper Heart
Quirky faux documentary about an awkward girl searching for love in all the wrong places (not really). I heart Michael Cera.
District 9
Sort of a surprise for me because I was expecting a Hollywood effect-a-thon (which it was), but it also managed to be The-Office-like funny. And on top of that there was a kind of post-colonial social commentary.
Star Trek
Somehow managed to both heavily reference the original Star Trek oeuvre without clinging to its coattails. I have to admit, I had long, nerdy talks abut the ramifications of its plot points.
Moon
What better person to round out this year’s deluge of awesome science fiction than the Star Man David Bowie’s son? This debut has conscious nods to such classics as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Solaris. But, once again, paying tribute without being completely unoriginal.
2005
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Sort of a comedy film noir with Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer. People like to trace RDJ’s comeback to Iron Man, but it was this movie that first got me to reconsider him.
Murderball
Documentary about paraplegics who play a version of rugby.
Paradise Now
Two Palestinians are chosen to be suicide bombers. I didn’t think I was going to like this movie because I'm not very politically interested in the issues at hand. However I was won over by the daily details of the human story.
Man Push Cart
A heartrending story of a guy who owns one of those hot dog type places just trying to make good in difficult circumstances.
The Cave of the Yellow Dog
Very similar to The Story of the Weeping Camel by the same director. A quotidian look at Mongolian life with the barest pretenses of a plot.
Tiger and the Snow
I love Roberto Benigni. I’m not just saying that for no reason. He directed and acted in this movie. It is an homage to the power of love and poetry and Tom Waits in a cruel and war-torn world.
2006
Little Miss Sunshine
I think I loved this movie because it stars such a panoply of failures. “Divorce? Bankrupt? Suicide? You’re fucking losers!” as Paul Dano’s character succinctly puts it. And despite that, it is funny and charming and a total sleeper hit.
The Fall
I think Dayna Papaleo [movie critic] described this movie as being a cross between Wizard of Oz and The Princess Bride. She probably said other things about it but the basic idea of storytelling and mythical surrealities are what drive this movie.
Volver
This is pretty much the only Pedro Almodovar movie I can stand. And I’m not even sure why. Penelope Cruz was excellent.
Paprika
If you’re not on drugs when watching this movie, you won’t need to be. A cornucopia of color and surrealism meant to tap into the subconscious language of dreams. Don't worry about plot. Just sit back and let your mind bake.
The Bridge
Documentary footage of people actually committing suicide off San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. At first blush it sounds unethical. And probably at twenty-fifth blush it still seems like a bad idea to make and release such a movie. And yet here I am recommending it.
2007
No Country for Old Men
I wasn’t going to see this movie but a friend of mine, David Langley, called me a bad name and told me to just do it. Ok, David, you were right.
Blades of Glory
After watching NCforOM, you may need to lighten up a bit and why not go for a Napoleon Dynamite (whatever his real name is) and Will Ferrell tag team comedy about a male-on-male figure-skating duo?
Eagle vs. Shark
Speaking of Napoleon Dynamite, here’s another movie along the same lines. Starring Flight of the Conchord’s Jemaine Clement, this dead-pan comedy is definitely quirky.
Darjeeling Limited
Underappreciated Wes Anderson flick. I saw it nine times in the theater. Maybe that’s what’s required to start picking up on how cool it is, but I don't think so.
Lars and the Real Girl
Mislabeled as a comedy, on paper it sounds funny. Shy guy orders sex doll and passes it off as a real woman. But this isn’t a funny movie. It is good though.
Control
Further plunging down the depressive hole is this not exactly bio-pic of Joy Division. Not only is it interesting for “factual” info regarding a cool band, but it’s a decent movie film-wise.
King of Kong
Ok, let’s have a little levity again. This documentary follows players of that classic arcade game, King Kong, trying to establish a new record high score. It is both pathetic and fascinating.
2008
The Dark Knight
To all those fools who said that Heath Ledger only got an Oscar because he died, I pose the following question: where was Bernie Mac’s Oscar for Soul Men? There are some things about Dark Knight that make it less than perfect but Heath’s performance more than makes up for them.
Let the Right One in
Going up directly against Twilight, this vampire movie has (at least) one thing Twilight doesn’t: it’s Swedish!
Sunshine Cleaning
I really liked this movie but I can't quite specify what I liked about it. It had a sort of Little Miss Sunshine feeling (same producer, same Alan Arkin) but different.
Synecdoche NY
Phillip Seymour Hoffman had a nice little run and this movie may have killed it. This was Charlie Kauffman's (writer of Being John Malkovitch, Adaptation) directorial debut and you can tell he really wanted to make a splash without diverging from his typical themes of existentialism and navel-gazing.
Religulous
I've never found Bill Maher to be funny. More annoying. However in this documentary, I think he’s really trying to reign it in just a tad (not always successfully). He takes a look at the big three religions (Xianity, Jewdiocity and Muslimism). It’s both insightful and funny.
Baghead
Here’ an underrated movie that slipped under the radar. Filmed in low-budget Blair Witch style, this meta movie documents the filming of a low-budget Blair Witch style horror movie. There’s a lot of sitting around and talking but it also has a pretty cool denouement.
2009
The Informant
I read one review calling this movie a fat Bourne Identity. Be that as it may, Matt Damon has some really great lines in this corporate espionage (maybe a bit misleading) I-wouldn’t-call-it-a-thriller.
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Wes Anderson breaks the mold by not only making an adaptation (of a Roald Dahl book) but also by using stop animation instead of live actors. Despite these breaks from tradition, Anderson manages to completely own this movie. It is simultaneously nothing like and exactly the same as everything else he has made.
Paper Heart
Quirky faux documentary about an awkward girl searching for love in all the wrong places (not really). I heart Michael Cera.
District 9
Sort of a surprise for me because I was expecting a Hollywood effect-a-thon (which it was), but it also managed to be The-Office-like funny. And on top of that there was a kind of post-colonial social commentary.
Star Trek
Somehow managed to both heavily reference the original Star Trek oeuvre without clinging to its coattails. I have to admit, I had long, nerdy talks abut the ramifications of its plot points.
Moon
What better person to round out this year’s deluge of awesome science fiction than the Star Man David Bowie’s son? This debut has conscious nods to such classics as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Solaris. But, once again, paying tribute without being completely unoriginal.
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