Whiner's Half Dozen

Woody Allen's always been good at kvetching. As he's made clear in his movies, life at its best isn't great, so there's plenty to complain about. He also regularly feels let down by his films. This might be a defensive posture, but he's been keeping it up so long I'm inclined to believe him. (Maybe they'd be better if he took two years to make them rather than one.) In a recent interview, he says:

Out of 40 films I should have 30 masterpieces, eight noble failures and two embarrassments, but it hasn't worked out that way.

This is kind of silly. Leaving aside the quality of his work (which has been uneven but includes some fine stuff) no one makes masterpieces 75% of the time, not even his idol, Ingmar Bergman.

Many of the films are enjoyable by the mean standards of movies, but look at what has been accomplished by people who have done beautiful things - Kurosawa, Bergman, Fellini, Bunuel, Truffaut - and then look at my films. I have squandered my opportunities and I have nobody to blame but myself.

I like how he compliments himself in passing. Actually, Woody, quite a few of your films aren't that good, even by the "mean standards" of movies. But don't worry, Woody, we still love you.

There are a few better than others, half a dozen, but it's a surprising paucity of worthwhile celluloid.

What are these six? The Purple Rose of Cairo, Match Point, Bullets Over Broadway, Zelig, Husbands and Wives and Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

I don't think any of these six should make that list. Woody is a better filmmaker than judge of his own work. Maybe that's why he hasn't made more masterpieces.

PS The interview was done overseas. They claim Woody said

I've always been able to work freely, to play my clarinet and enjoy women and sport...

and

...I'm claustrophobic; who wants to be stuck in a lift for three hours?

Now maybe he expressed himself this way to accommodate his interviewer, but more likely the interviewer Briticized Woody's language, which should have been left alone.