OK, so the WS is the first to admit that admiration for this pop culture icon has been a little bit of a tough sell since the whole "I'm-leaving-you-for-my-stepdaughter" routine of the early 1990s. (That episode, as much I'd like to forget it, certainly did cast a pall on one of my favorite of Allen's films, Manhattan. It used to be charmingly nutty that he was going out with a seventeen year old in the movie; suddenly, it was just, um, not-so-nice.) In any case, my fandom for the Woodman, which never completely dissipated, enjoyed a bit of a renaissance right around the time I defended my PhD and entered the academy professionally. Suddenly, the classic Allen films of the late 70s and early 80s were so soothing, turning as they often do on Allen's inability to suffer pretentious blowhards and egotistical intellectuals. That scene with Marshall McLuhan in the movie line in Annie Hall has such resonance for me. Trust me.
More superficially, I dig the tweed jacket, the nervous tics, the neurotic asides... And as if that weren't enough, this cat plays the clarinet. In public. Jazz, y'all.
And he gave us what is, in my mind, the best overlap between the absurd and the insightful in the commentary about relationships that closes Annie Hall. "We need the eggs." We do.
2 comments:
What'd you think of Match Point? I was basically contractually obligaed to like it -- I was rereading C&P at the time -- but thought it was a real relief after the basically unwatchable Melinda and Melinda.
Really? I actually liked Melinda and Melinda, though it was obvious that Will Ferrell was cast to be the latest in a line of recent Woody Allen impersonators--after John Cusack, Kenneth Branagh...
Match Point was enjoyable because it was different for Woody Allen--well, sorta, it did remind me too much of Crimes and Misdemeanors at times. My one problem with the film was the way it uses the melodramatic dialogue I associate with a certain period of Hollywood films, especially noir, but doesn't flag that allusive sensibility in any other way, like with the art direction or photography. Still, loved the ending.
Thanks for posting.
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