Woody Allen is one of cinema’s most accomplished directors
Series: Woody Allen
Ever visited a city and felt so entranced by it that you start imagining yourself living there? Wandering the streets and living out some long-lost glory years?
Here’s a quick rundown of the three films in this anthology:
On the one hand, I might have over-binged on Woody Allen movies in the past three months. Some of his themes and rhythms of writing are starting to seem repetitive and shallow to the point I rolled my eyes a few times.
On the other hand, this a pretty marvelous art house drama. “Bergman-esque” is the term they use for this kind of morally complex retrospective style, I think. There’s also something almost spiritual about the central gimmick: a woman overhearing another woman’s confession in a nearby shrink’s office, but what she hears feels so personal that it almost reads as a reflexive hallucination. (The young psych patient’s name is “Hope” for crying out loud.)
Gena Rowlands is amazingly controlled throughout a movie that asks her to do a LOT. And Allen is, against all odds, a better director than a writer at this point, I think. The camera holds an intense gaze that amplifies the film’s themes.
It’s quite groggy in its pacing and energy, but the emotional threads teased out are remarkably sharp, especially Allen’s increasingly cynical view of marriage always dying a slow, wheezing death.
September is a minor Woody Allen drama, though there is plenty to like.
Radio Days is the Woody Allen version of a coming-of-age hangout movie, told in vignettes. These stories weave together compellingly, giving the film narrative heft despite its episodic nature.
Most pre- and mid-World War 2 period pieces show the country in grayish, dusty tones, but this is absolutely vibrant and sentimental. The cast is huge and great; the thematic scope is a panorama. Showcasing both celebrities and lower-middle class gives some appealing upstairs-downstairs tension. And of course the radio music is masterpiece-level — the lovely, soothing 1940s tunes bring so many scenes alive.
I’m not sure I’m ready to say that this is my favorite Woody Allen movie, but I will say it’s the one I’m currently most excited to re-watch.
Hannah and Her Sisters, the second drama by Woody Allen after a long string of comedies, is a fantastically crafted slice-of-life drama of three sisters with interlocking lives.
If you love movies and escapism and romance, go watch this film. Hugely entertaining and also smart as hell, brilliantly made, and delightfully acted.
A movie character hops out of the screen and falls for a film-obsessed local girl, and the line between reality and cinema blur. Daniels and Farrow are great.
Kind of like Enchanted but for classic Hollywood instead of golden age Disney.
Broadway Danny Rose is Woody Allen at his peak filmmaking powers. The framing story of wiseacres narrating the story gives the movie a tall tale-like feeling. Mia Farrow is amazing and completely transformed, and Gordon Willis’s black and white photography is intoxicating. World-class stuff. The straightforward romantic comedy elements are elevated by melancholic thematic guts, plus the visual grandeur. This is a borderline masterpiece.
As a technical exercise, this is truly astonishing: