Day 176: Don’t Drink the Water

51K2CVB5NDLWoody Allen adapted this 1994 movies from his 1966 play of the same name.

Don’t Drink the Water, the 25th film Woody Allen directed, opens to voice-over narration, delivered in that sonorous, well-modulated radio-announcer (or TV news anchor – a la Ted Baxter, “The anchor man”) style, and period visuals of the Cold War, circa early 1960s.

But the narrative is convoluted, hard to follow, runs on too long, and uses too many words.

Sort of like the movie itself.

By the time Michael J. Fox appears – and he seems woefully miscast – I’m not only not hooked, I’m turned off.

Plus, Woody used hand-held cinematography again. Yuck. It totally interrupts the flow of the movie, although it appears he was going for a documentary style. So perhaps he Continue reading

Day 174: Manhattan Murder Mystery

518B34J685LManhattan Murder Mystery is one of my favorite Woody Allen films.

It’s not a heavy movie.

It’s not an essential movie.

It’s just a fun movie.

I like the pairing of Alan Alda, Diane Keaton, and Anjelica Huston with Woody.

It’s the first time Diane Keaton has appeared in a Woody Allen film since Manhattan in 1979. (Interesting that the word “Manhattan” is in both titles featuring Keaton.) It’s Alan Alda’s second appearance in a Woody film, the first being Crimes and Misdemeanors.

Here’s the plot of this 1993 comedy, the 23rd Woody directed:

Woody and Diane are married. They live in an apartment across the hall from an elderly couple whom they befriend. One day, the old woman drops dead from a heart attack. Diane suspects foul play, however, and enlists the help of friend Alan Alda who, together, ratchet up their suspicions until they’re convinced the old man murdered his wife.

Did he? Or didn’t he?

Ahh, that’s why Continue reading

Day 175: Bullets Over Broadway

51W6CN4Y3FLBullets Over Broadway is the 24th film Woody Allen directed.

This time around, he co-wrote his movie with Douglas McGrath.

Released in 1994, this “crime-comedy” – according to its entry on IMDB – is about:

In 1920s New York, a struggling playwright is forced to cast a mobster’s talentless girlfriend in his latest drama in order to get it produced.

It’s a heck of a cast:

John Cusack … David Shayne
Dianne Wiest … Helen Sinclair
Jennifer Tilly … Olive Neal
Chazz Palminteri … Cheech
Mary-Louise Parker … Ellen
Jack Warden … Julian Marx
Joe Viterelli … Nick Valenti
Rob Reiner … Sheldon Flender

And there are some great performances.

However, this movie is loud, talky, and frenetic, even by Woody Allen standards. Shouting appears to be the preferred method of delivering lines. And, when that fails, bullets from a Tommy gun help punctuate a scene.

The end result is loudness. Times 10.

For example, Continue reading

Day 173: Husbands and Wives

518V6SXNJ1LHusbands and Wives, Woody’s 22nd turn behind the camera, is a terrible movie, on par with Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask*.

Maybe worse.

For one thing, this 1992 documentary-like film is the most foul-mouthed Woody Allen movie to date. Lots of F-words.

Lots. Of. F. Words.

For another, Husbands and Wives uses my most despised cinematic technique: hand-held camera work. It’s the most pretentious, pseudo-envelope-pushing gimmick in the book. Words can’t express how much I despise this way of filming a movie.

The ends result is a film that’s like seeing the world from a swift-moving roller coaster. Sloshes from side to side, extreme closeups, slow (or fast) zooms…It makes me nauseous.

I’ve walked out of movies with cinematography this shitty, and I’m likely to walk out of this one.

Finally, the subject matter of Husbands and Wives is the most Continue reading

Day 172: Shadows and Fog

51MJ3DB536LShadows and Fog, the 21st movie Woody Allen directed, boasts another huge cast.

And a very strange plot.

And Mia Farrow, who was in every one of Woody’s movies since 1982’s A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy.

According to its entry on Wikipedia,

Shadows and Fog (1991) is a black-and-white film directed by Woody Allen and based on his one-act play Death. It stars Allen, Mia Farrow, John Malkovich, John Cusack, Madonna, and Kenneth Mars. It was filmed on a 26,000-square-foot (2,400 m2) set at Kaufman Astoria Studios, which holds the distinction of being the biggest set ever built in New York. It was also his last film for Orion Pictures.

Shadows and Fog is an homage to German Expressionist filmmakers Fritz Lang, G.W. Pabst and F.W. Murnau in its visual presentation, and to the writer Franz Kafka in theme.

Shadows and Fog is almost absurdist in its execution. Lots of misunderstandings, non sequitur dialogue, and bizarre characters.

All wandering around a city at night, in the fog, with a killer Continue reading

Day 170: Crimes and Misdemeanors

51BH1MKN2ELCrimes and Misdemeanors is a captivating, brilliant, ironic, and thoroughly depressing movie about an opthamologist (Martin Landau, 1928- ), his mistress (Angelica Huston, 1951- ), and a married documentary filmmaker (Woody Allen) who is infatuated by another woman.

The theme of the movie comes early on, in a scene in which Juda Rosenthal (Landau) delivers an acceptance speech for some kind of award:

“I remember my father telling me, ‘The eyes of God are on us always.” The eyes of God. What a phrase to a young boy. What were God’s eyes like? Unimaginably penetrating, intense eyes, I assumed. And I wonder if it was just a question that I made my specialty opthamology.”

“Eyes” is the theme of Crimes and Misdemeanors.

Staring eyes. Watching eyes. Jealous eyes. Failing eyes.

Once again, the movie is about relationships, infidelity, love, death, religion, God…you name it. It’s Woody through and through.

But it’s a Woody more focused and Continue reading

Day 168: Another Woman

510CBVA0W0LAnother Woman, Woody’s 17th turn behind the camera, is another film about relationships.

And infidelity.

And awkward, uncomfortable moments.

The movie opens with the shot of the inside of a house, a corridor. Empty.

Then, voice-over narration – this time, from a woman, whom we discover is Marion (Gena Rowlands, 1930- ), a professor of philosophy on sabbatical writing a book. Marion’s apartment butts up against the office of a psychiatrist and she discovers that she can hear the sessions going on next door.

One voice from the psychiatrist’s office – sounds like Mia Farrow to me – causes Marion to listen more intently, and then begin to question her own life’s choices.

The cast is amazing:

Gena Rowlands … Marion
Mia Farrow … Hope
Ian Holm … Ken
Blythe Danner … Lydia
Gene Hackman … Larry
Betty Buckley … Kathy
Martha Plimpton … Laura
John Houseman … Marion’s Father
Sandy Dennis … Claire
David Ogden Stiers … Young Marion’s Father

But this is another very intense film about break-ups and regrets and living lives of quiet desperation, usually with the wrong person, that requires Continue reading

Day 167: September

41QX6GHNP2LSeptember, the 16th movie Woody Allen Directed, opens with a push in shot of the interior of a home.

Then, we hear two people – a man and a woman – speaking French.

The two people are revealed to be Howard (Denholm Elliott) and Stephanie (Dianne Wiest), sitting on a couch. Howard is teaching Stephanie the language.

According to its entry on IMDB, this is what September is about:

At a summer house in Vermont, neighbor Howard falls in love with Lane, who’s in a relationship with Peter, who’s falling for Stephanie, who’s married with children.

Sounds like typical Woody Allen.

It’s a great cast, one that includes some of my favorite actors:

Denholm Elliott (1922–1992) … Howard
Dianne Wiest (1948- ) … Stephanie
Mia Farrow (1945- ) … Lane
Elaine Stritch (1925- ) … Diane
Sam Waterston (1940- ) … Peter
Jack Warden (1920-2006) … Lloyd

I wasn’t familiar with Elaine Stritch prior to September. So I looked her up. Here’s what her bio says about her:

A brash, incorrigible scene-stealer now entering her sixth decade in a career that has had many highs and lows, veteran Elaine Stritch certainly lives up to the Stephen Sondheim song “I’m Still Here”. Having stolen so many moments on stage that she could be convicted of grand larceny, this tough old broad broaching 80 with the still-shapely legs, puffy blonde hairdo and deep, whiskey voice isn’t quitting anytime soon – or so it seems.

Why haven’t I seen her in anything else? Born in 1925 in Detroit, Elaine was Continue reading

Day 166: Radio Days

41E6BFRBHMLRadio Days, the 1987 movie written and directed by Woody Allen, is “one big stroll down memory lane” (my wife’s words) told through witty and poignant voice-over narration provided by Woody, and visuals of a young boy growing up in the years just before and during World War II whose constant companion is the radio.

There are many guest stars in Radio Days, some of whom appeared in previous Woody movies.

This is an interesting movie from a nostalgia perspective. But I couldn’t get wrapped up in the story.

Radio Days isn’t a bad film. It’s just not one of my favorites.

Next up: September.

Day 164: The Purple Rose of Cairo

41WAWC1EV0LThe Purple Rose of Cairo, the 14th film directed by Woody Allen, is my third favorite movie by this American icon.

When Jeff Daniels visited our city 6-7 years ago to promote his latest CD, I brought the insert from the DVD for him to sign.

He did.

Haydn231The Purple Rose of Cairo is an incredibly inventive film within a film – a movie about a movie named “The Purple Rose of Cairo” that Cecilia (Farrow) watches with such awe and reverence and longing that the characters on the screen come to life for her and one – Tom Baxter (Daniels) – steps off the screen to rescue her from her brutish husband Monk (Aiello), from whom she escapes by watching romantic movies.

Eventually, the other characters in “The Purple Rose of Cairo” movie who are on the screen (in black and white because it’s supposedly an old Hollywood movie) find themselves off script, and even talking to the audience.

Brilliant.

The movie features some of my favorite actors (Daniels, Herrmann, Wood, for example), including several from Hollywood’s Golden Age Continue reading