The Woodman
It's hard to believe, but comic genius Woody Allen turns 70 today.
I call him comic genius for two reasons. First, he really is the towering comic mind of our time (there are a few who might challenge him--say, Neil Simon--but Woody's certainly at or near the top), even if he hasn't always been hugely popular. And, second, his great talent is in comedy, even if he's often turned his back on it, or done slapdash work. Many critics think he's created great things outside comedy, but I don't see it. While they would consider Annie Hall (1977) his first masterpiece, I think it's his last. The more "serious" stuff he's made since then, at its best, amounts to minor art films, seems to me.
His latest (and he sure churns them out) is the drama Match Point, which is getting great reviews. I'll go to see it--I've been catching his stuff almost as long as he's been making it--but what I wouldn't give for another Love And Death (1975). (I'll even take Bullets Over Broadway (1994).)
I could write a book on the Woodman. Maybe some day I will.
posted by LAGuy @ 2:07 AM
6 Comments:
I think you're giving the later Woodman short shrift. What about Hannah And Her Sisters, Crimes And Misdemeanors, Husbands And Wives and several others. They are all majors films and have the Oscar nominations to prove it.
Ah, you're just baiting LAGuy. He don' need no stinkin' Oscars.
Anyway, LAGuy, I think a book on Allen is a great idea. You'd be great at it.
(And for some reason, "The Woodman" has me thinking of Woody Allen sitting in an Ohio State frat house every night.
"Hey! WOOD-MAN! Let's go get some nookie!"
"Nookie? Who doesn't want nookie? What am I gonna do, order it like a cheese blintz?")
I think there's some good stuff in Husbands and Wives and Crimes and Misdemeanors (less in the overpraised Hannah and Her Sisters) but, like LA Guy, don't think they're nearly as good as his early stuff when he was just trying to be funny.
Oscar nominations mean nothing. Roberto Benigni and Halle Berry have Oscars.
Early Woody is true genius, and definitely superior to Neil Simon, whose characters all sound the same (like Aaron Sorkin's). It is a shame that Woody has become an elitist snob and that his personal life choices have tainted his work with creepiness.
Re: Match Point - from the trailer, I can only surmise that, after failed attempts to be the American version of Bergman and Fellini, Woody now aspires to be the American Adrian Lyne.
Excellent argument, anonymous #3. You should be a critic. Maybe you are.
So it seems to be the majority feel that Allen's "earlier, funnier films" are his best. Did anyone see the recent Spielberg interview where he complains that he hears something like that line (from Stardust Memories) all the time--why don't you make another Raiders or ET? In a way, I can see the parallel. Spielberg is one of the greatest action directors around, and we have precious few of them, so to the audience, it's a shame if he turns his back on the strength. But the problem is even worse with Woody, since we have even less comic geniuses.
Only a critic of YOU, LAGuy (insert maniacal laugh here).
I agree about the parallels between Steven and Woody. When they tried to be people they weren't (Bergman and Fellini, as noted, in Woody's case, Frank Capra in Spielberg's) their inherent genius became diluted. To wallow further in cliches, imitation may be the truest form of flattery, but to thine own self be true, right?
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