Crimes 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 balanced than in any previous movie. Another Woman and September were dire, humorless films. But Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) takes the seriousness of the previous movies and adds humor, which makes the movie not only more palatable, but also more ironic.

Alan Alda (1936- ) plays a self-aggrandizing, pompous, successful director who hires Woody Allen’s character to direct a documentary about himself.

The choices each character makes play out to various conclusions.

This is an amazing movie, my fourth favorite of all Woody’s movies – despite its intense theme.