Saturday, June 24, 2006
WOODY
Today's Best Film was
This is early Allen where a string of one liners is accompanied by striking visuals and cinematography.
You can sorta see where his work has evolved. He took what he knew—jokes and situations—and added the movie stuff to it.
He was learning as he went. And innovating. Some of the photography is just gorgeous. Even the outrageous funny stuff.
The faces. The actors he selects. The scenery. All top notch. And a lot of it is also a joke in and of itself. The costumes are so funny.
It is not hard to see the technique here as it evolved into the later serious films.
As far as the movie is concerned, it arrived pre-sold. I saw it when it came out and, knowing that I was getting it this week, it came back to me in parts. I was laughing before I saw the film again.
It is all based on a mock of Russian Literature (intentionally capped letters).
I have favorite parts like the paragraph made up of Dostoevsky titles and the death figure (which is actually from Bergman and not Russian at all). There is the duel. The village idiot's convention. The Charley Chaplin homage.
Allen's personna here is still the wide eyed standup with the hair wildly out of place. He doesn't change any of it for the film.
Diane Keaton is great in this one. She just keeps rolling along with the angels dancing on the head of a pin. Equivocation as an art form.
And the music. S. Prokofiev! Indeed.
It is not the very, very best Allen. But then what is? All of his works are somewhat flawed by too many takes on the same joke and too many one liners in the scene but enough of them are so funny, we forgive him his excesses.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
