Nine of Woody’s films are period pieces. I’ve already written about Shadows and Fog, and Zelig, so they’ll just get honorable mentions. The only thing that gets Woody out of the modern world is his muse period: the jazzy, the sexy, the fashionable 1920s-1940s. Two exceptions: Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy (set in the 1900s) and Love and Death (set in the early 1800s).
Love and Death (1975) really feels like Woody’s homage to all the great Russian novelists and their existential relationship to love, class, and death. The film is quite campy. There’s a romp in a castle where Diane Keaton has a chastity belt, which Woody (playing a ridiculous jester) painstakingly tries to remove while Napoleon is just in the other room. Some classic lines in this one, but if you really want my opinion, it’s just another ‘earlier funnier film’ of his, which I just don’t care for unless I’m seriously sleep-deprived or drunk. A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982) isn’t my bag either. Two couples go to the countryside and are carried away by love and romance and silliness. I think I fell asleep. Comedy did mark the first time Mia Farrow starred in Woody’s films.
The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) and Sweet and Lowdown (1999) are two of his best movies. Set in the 30s, the former centered on his love of 30s cinema and the art of going to the movies and losing yourself, and the latter engrossed in jazz. Purple is quite endearing. Mia Farrow plays this lonely, meek & quiet wife who spends her afternoons in the solace of a movie theater. She watches a movie ‘The Purple Rose of Cairo’ which Jeff Daniels stars in. Within the movie, he notices the woman sitting time and time again through the movie, so he comes out to meet her. It’s such a magical dream for things like this to happen. She takes him to Coney Island, and around the ‘real world’. He falls for her. Yeah, it’s bittersweet and touching. Sweet and Lowdown is done in the mockumentary style that I love so much! Sean Penn stars as the ‘2nd best jazz guitarist in the world’ (second to Django Reinhardt). The music is SOOO good! Samantha Morton plays his mute girlfriend. She’s ADORABLE. Both Penn and Morton received Oscar noms for these roles. They’re just priceless. Penn’s character is quite flawed, but again, dripping with endearment. The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001) was also set in the 30s. Let’s just say it though: it sux!
Sandwiching the 30s, is Bullets Over Broadway (1994), set in the 20s and Radio Days (1987), set in the 40s. Bullets is GORGEOUS, with beautiful rich lush color. John Cusack (swoon!) is a struggling playwright who gets badgered into hiring two difficult female leads for his new Broadway play: the genius Dianne Weist and the ridiculous Jennifer Tilly. I am telling you: this is a FINE film! There’s wonderful gangsters, oh-so-cool Chazz Palminteri, and some of the funniest almost love scenes with Dianne (playing the illustrious and slightly alcoholic Helen Sinclair) begging John’s character to “Don’t speak!” Very classy film. Radio Days is fun and light. Fairly forgettable though.
2 comments:
I am one of those people who aren't at all a Woody Allen fan, but because I love it when you write on your blog I'll read about Woody Allen movies. In a measure to show support I will even add my own bit of trivia.... Jeff Daniels, who is from Chelsea,MI a town right outside of Ann Arbor, began a theater company and theater in Chelsea named "The Purple Rose", after the movie.
These have been fun to read.
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