I don’t know Russian lit, so 25% of the jokes evaded me. It takes awhile to get going, but that second half shows Allen has learned how to make a film. Keaton in particular is at another level.
Wheat.
Category: Legacy
A bit stuffy and slow to gestate, but intricate, dark, and probing once it gets going. Allen directs drama with assurance and intuitive use of symbolism, but the script isn’t quite there to bring it to the next level.
Categories
My Octopus Teacher (2020)
The footage is superior, but it is actively undermined by some of the most self-serving, anthropomorphizing narration I’ve ever heard. To quote one of my favorite Letterboxd reviews: “i did not care about this man or his problems or his face”
A movie that unfortunately holds together less and less with each minute of its runtime, Sleeper is still often intriguing and funny as a dystopian slapstick. Its lurch to a love triangle is quite inelegant.
Does things with animation that haven’t been done before or since. Mature, postmodern story with lots of humanity. Thrilling action, great score. Its animation has aged a bit, and there’s some weird thematic stuff, but it’s one of the great 21st century animation masterpieces, no doubt.
A college freshman dramedy. Tries to be 3 different movies, none of them particularly good.
An anthology of sex-themed genre pastiches that intermittently takes its stupidity seriously enough to verge into funny and/or subversive, but more often just drifts into nothingness.
Categories
It Happened One Night (1934)
A well-written romcom with a theme and lots of fun details plus good chemistry between Allen and Keaton. Too bad the jokes just aren’t all there and the story isn’t enough of a home run. Still quite good, though.
Not as funny as Allen’s proper debut Take the Money and Run, but a very good sophomore effort.