Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Scoop
At the end of Anything Else, (which I have not seen but read several reviews for) Woody Allen's character advises the young Woody Allen Surrigate to go take a job in LA. Many reviewers took this as a sign that Woody Allen could no longer find any inspiration in the City in which he made all his movies. For example, A.O. Scott of the New York Times (my first source of movie reviews, before i move on to the Post, Slate, Entertainment Weekly, and ocassionally the New Republic, Salon too but I hate watching that commercial)
Though Manhattan (shot this time by Darius Khondji) is as lovely, and as loved, as ever -- especially Central Park, which gives off an easy glow of enchantment in the background -- ''Anything Else'' views the city as a land of traps and snares. Dobel, intervening on his young friend's behalf, nudges Jerry toward a future in Los Angeles, where a nice television job is waiting. In ''Annie Hall,'' of course, California was a New York writer's worst nightmare, a land of endless vacuousness, without the friction and frenzy that make life interesting. (In ''Hollywood Ending'' it was the land of smooth talk and big money.)
This time, though, the golden West hovers as an attractive alternative, an escape from the enervating habits and connections that already, in his early 20's, threaten Jerry's sense of balance. The moral of this odd, diverting fable may not be all that shocking, unless of course, you consider the source.
When Match Point came out, it built on the Anything Else reviewer wisdom, he had lost his way in New York and needed to go to London. (I also read several reviews for Match Point. It is a terrible habit. Each review gives away small plot points, but between several reviews I can usually piece together the whole movie. I am trying to quit).
If ever there was a case to be made for an artist finding inspiration abroad, Allen's first foray out of New York makes a powerful argument. Desson Thomson, Washington Post.
Anyway, so I recently saw Scoop, the second Woody Allen London Inspired film. I enjoyed it immensely (although I think Stephen Hunter's terrible review of it in the WaPo is totally worth reading, he calls it "the worst film that Woody Allen has ever made." But here's the biggest fodder for the Woody Allen New York v. London conventional wisdom (spoiler), London kills the Woody Allen character. And its London's Londonness, in the form of driving on the wrong side of the street, that kills him. Poor guy. His character has come to hate New York, advising young writers to leave it, but actually leaving New York kills the Woody Allen character.
So the message of the movie as interpreted by me, sure, you may be sick of New York, think it is too hot (or cold), too crowded, too isolating, too much pressure, too expensive, and smelly, but the city and its norms seep so deeply into your bones (despite the fact that maybe you spent 5 of the last 7 years determined to leave but stupidly decided that to go to law school there) that if you are anywhere else it just does not quite feel right. And if you are a 70 year old man who has spent his whole life there, you end up driving on the wrong side of the road and crashing to your death.
Though Manhattan (shot this time by Darius Khondji) is as lovely, and as loved, as ever -- especially Central Park, which gives off an easy glow of enchantment in the background -- ''Anything Else'' views the city as a land of traps and snares. Dobel, intervening on his young friend's behalf, nudges Jerry toward a future in Los Angeles, where a nice television job is waiting. In ''Annie Hall,'' of course, California was a New York writer's worst nightmare, a land of endless vacuousness, without the friction and frenzy that make life interesting. (In ''Hollywood Ending'' it was the land of smooth talk and big money.)
This time, though, the golden West hovers as an attractive alternative, an escape from the enervating habits and connections that already, in his early 20's, threaten Jerry's sense of balance. The moral of this odd, diverting fable may not be all that shocking, unless of course, you consider the source.
When Match Point came out, it built on the Anything Else reviewer wisdom, he had lost his way in New York and needed to go to London. (I also read several reviews for Match Point. It is a terrible habit. Each review gives away small plot points, but between several reviews I can usually piece together the whole movie. I am trying to quit).
If ever there was a case to be made for an artist finding inspiration abroad, Allen's first foray out of New York makes a powerful argument. Desson Thomson, Washington Post.
Anyway, so I recently saw Scoop, the second Woody Allen London Inspired film. I enjoyed it immensely (although I think Stephen Hunter's terrible review of it in the WaPo is totally worth reading, he calls it "the worst film that Woody Allen has ever made." But here's the biggest fodder for the Woody Allen New York v. London conventional wisdom (spoiler), London kills the Woody Allen character. And its London's Londonness, in the form of driving on the wrong side of the street, that kills him. Poor guy. His character has come to hate New York, advising young writers to leave it, but actually leaving New York kills the Woody Allen character.
So the message of the movie as interpreted by me, sure, you may be sick of New York, think it is too hot (or cold), too crowded, too isolating, too much pressure, too expensive, and smelly, but the city and its norms seep so deeply into your bones (despite the fact that maybe you spent 5 of the last 7 years determined to leave but stupidly decided that to go to law school there) that if you are anywhere else it just does not quite feel right. And if you are a 70 year old man who has spent his whole life there, you end up driving on the wrong side of the road and crashing to your death.
# posted by Julia @ 12:23 PM 
