Dir.: Woody Allen

Allen fans will forever discuss this but... Annie Hall is his masterpiece. Manhattan can only approach perfection, Annie Hall reaches it.

I've had the "why is Woody Allen a genius?" discussion many times. There are virtually hundreds of explanations. One of them is the fact that he did something few - if any at all - filmmakers in history have: he took essentially the same thematic material and made two great, huge films out of it, and they feel entirely unalike. They are obviously Annie Hall and Manhattan. They both star Allen and Diane Keaton, both are about imperfect and somewhat forced relationships, and both have the traditional Allen-isms of him playing essentially himself as a neurotic character who inhabits New York. However, the two are completely different in tone. While Annie Hall is the blunt, sad realist of the pair, Manhattan is the hopeless romantic. Annie Hall's honesty reminded us that two people in love don't always end up together in the end - which is true everyday - Manhattan's naiveness made the point that the idealizing and glossing of life can't be considered a bad thing either. Call one the realistic adult that we eventually become after eperiencing life and the other the dreamy child we're often asked not to leave behind. They need each other to make their points. In the end, it's one's personality and view of the world and life that dictates which one we love the most. Personally, my heart belongs to Annie Hall (the character and the film), but Manhattan will always be one of the few films which remotely approaches its sublimity.

As far as my humble opinion goes, the greatest script Woody Allen ever wrote! A kind of dramatic comedy not so common in his career. A very real and human film. Has a profoundly old-fashioned, almost moral message behind it and in its core the themes of love, fidelity, infidelity, hope, and the fragility of happiness. Probably the film in which Allen acts the less, staying away from the front-side of the camera a lot and giving the rest of the cast more chances to shine - especially Mia Farrow, Barbara Hershey and Dianne Wiest - the three sisters. This obviously makes the film a lot more dramatic and tender, and less funny. Pure excelence when it comes to acting, with two other great performances from Michael Caine and Max von Sydow, besides the three leading ladies mentioned.

Another film that was destined to divide people from the start. I'm glad to say I'm on the side of those who managed to see the real brilliance of Match Point. This film is just so many things at once... A brilliant study of the the role of luck in life, a dark tale of societal comfort and class distinctions, a chilling psychological thriller and a simply sublime look at human nature. Diabolically clever, gripping, sexy and, for anyone who still doubted that Scarlett Johansson is Marilyn Monroe reincarnated, an ultimate doubt-shatterer. Woody Allen's best film since 1986's Hannah and Her Sisters.

One of Woody's best. Allen's character (Cliff Stern) is, of all of his, the one I relate to the most, Alvy Singer included.

By far Woody Allen's most dark and dramatic film ever, even in comparison to Match Point. One of the few times in which he decided to express himself through the darkest side of what it means to be human. Considered by many Allen's tribute to Ingmar Bergman and Anton Chekhov, two of his greatest and most important inspirations. An exploration of the disastrous results of cultivated interiority by three sisters and also a study of the connection between mothers and daughters, which links them together in a crucial and lifelong way. Powerful, raw, claustrophobic, skillful and ultimately sublime.

"To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering one must not love. But then one suffers from not loving. Therefore, to love is to suffer; not to love is to suffer; to suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to love. To be happy, then, is to suffer, but suffering makes one unhappy. Therefore, to be unhappy, one must love or love to suffer or suffer from too much happiness. I hope you're getting this down."

Very likely to be Woody Allen's funniest film. The above quote by Diane Keaton is really just a small sample of the film's endless brilliance when it comes to dialogue. The concepts of love and death, which obviously have always intrigued and fascinated Allen (and anyone who can say they're human, really) are looked at in the most funny and unpretensious way possible. He basically stomps all over Philosophy, Duty, Honor - all the 'games' we play to pretend we're important. A hilariously brilliant film. Or the other way around.

Allen's tribute to Sir. Alfred Hitchcock and the Mystery/Thriller genre itself. Fun and endlessly entertaining as expected, but also incredibly and surprinsingly thrilling and exciting as an actual thriller. The Allen-Keaton dynamic and chemistry is, even in their 50's of 60's, a big part of the film's fun. Also Zach Braff's first real acting job, age 18, as the Liptons' son, Nick.

Allen's tribute to theater and the 1920s Broadway, as well as one of his most purely entertaining films. Over cinema's last 40 years, no filmmaker's work has been linked as closely to his personal life as Woody Allen's. 1992's Husbands and Wives focused on troubled marriages, and showed Allen's character infatuated with a much younger woman. One year later, Manhattan Murder Mystery was the kind of light comedy Allen hadn't made in years, and seemed to indicate a desire to return to simpler times. Another year later came Bullets Over Broadway, another comedy, but it wasn't no simple escapade. Hilarious as it is, it's also a sly bit of satire, concerning the 'showbiz', and self-mockery, an indication that Allen the artist acknowledges the weaknesses of Allen the man. Beneath all the laughs, all the brilliant dialogues and lines, there's a moral question framed by Rob Reiner's character's hypothetical question of which you would save from a burning building: the last copy of Shakespeare's works, or some anonymous person? "The artist creates his own moral universe", he says, but David Shayne, the main character played by John Cusack, turns of the story work against that notion. Better to be a good man than a great artist.

Probably one of the most brilliant things - in the most unsual and strange way possible - ever to come out of Woody Allen's mind. One of the finest examples (although the same can be said of many other of his films) of his true creative genius as a filmmaker and artist. A mockumentary that actually feels like a real documentary very often because of its special effects, incredibly ahead of its time. Hilarious at many times. Absolutely fascinating and entertaining in all of its absurdity throughout its entire 79-minute running time.

One of Woody Allen's most obvious and dedicated looks at relationships, marriage and man-wife dynamic, in the style of Hannah and Her Sisters, with humor that's all the more effective thanks to its dark, edgy context. Judy Davis contributes a lot with a memorable performance.

One of Allen's most particularly funny films, which I guess isn't really saying much. Definitely his most foul-mouthed one to date. Lots and lots of brilliant dialogues and one-liners, as usual.

"We are meant for each other and not meant for each other. It's a contradiction."

The fourth (and apparently final, since I hear he's back in the States) film in what will be know in the future as Woody Allen's European period, Vicky Cristina Barcelona is the closest to what fans of his classic relationship comedies keep hoping the 73-year-old filmmaker will produce again. It's a light, entertaining and romantic film without the strained zaniness of Scoop or the predictability of Cassandra's Dream, filled with mild humour, gorgeous actors, some wonderfully drawn characters and a lovely, lovely Spanish setting.



In keeping with Allen's late-career embrace of sensuality over awkwardness, Barcelona is a visual treat from start to finish, revelling in the beauty of both its locations (Barcelona, of course, but also Oviedo) and its stars. Rebecca Hall and recent Allen muse Scarlett Johansson are the title characters, two of those typical Americans spending a summer abroad. Vicky (Hall) is working on a master's thesis on Catalan identity (an interest that apparently began with architect Antoni Gaudí), while Cristina (Johansson) is just hoping the change of scenery will help her "find herself."

Their circumstances and states of mind are described by an omniscient male narrator in a technique that is jarring at first but soon gives the film the tone of a particularly sharp and observant short story. The narrator, for example, encapsulates Cristina's flightiness perfectly in his introduction of her, in which he explains that she has just spent a year writing, directing and acting in a 12-minute film that she absolutely hates. Snide remarks like these pop up occasionally, always with measured delivery but showing a level of skepticism (though never condescension) toward some of the characters' choices.

Staying with Vicky's distant relatives (played by Patricia Clarkson and Kevin Dunn), the two women soon meet up with charming, easy.going Spanish painter Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), who bluntly proposes bedding both of them during their first conversation. Engaged Vicky finds him off-putting initially, but Cristina immediately swoons, and soon ends up his devoted lover. Things continue at a frothy but sometimes sluggish pace, and just when the film threatens to lose its spark, something great happens: Penélope Cruz arrives to liven things up as Juan Antonio's ex-wife Maria Elena.



Cruz is fantastic as the passionate, mentally unstable woman who always says (often in Spanish only, in a delightful, but subtle reference that few people will get, to the Spanish way of being) exactly what's on her mind, and her presence gives both Cristina and the film itself a reason to perk up. Maria Elena insinuates herself into Juan Antonio and Cristina's relationship, leading to the understandably over-hyped (and really rather tame) threesome that made horny bloggers go crazy. Allen may be more open to exploring the sexiness of romance these days, but he still isn't interested in anything lascivious, and his depiction of the trio's relationship is more about their individual intimacy issues than it is about hot girl-on-girl action.

Meanwhile, Vicky nurses a slow-burning flame for Juan Antonio while spending time with her dull, wet-blanket fiancé, Doug (Chris Messina), such a generic corporate tool that he works for a company called Global Enterprises and seemingly talks about nothing but golf. As a character, he's a cipher, but that's part of the point - Vicky is marrying an empty suit rather than pursuing the vibrant, unpredictable Juan Antonio. Hall, a rather surprising casting choice (a British actress who appeared in her first film only two years ago) plays the closest thing the film has to the traditional Allen surrogate, and she makes Vicky's dilemma real and more problematic than it would appear on the surface. Johansson, somewhat out of her depth in previous Allen outings, imbues Cristina with the right mix of infuriating and endearing. As for Bardem, he's appropriately sensual, but also likable, which is important in plausibly setting up why Vicky and Cristina are so drawn to him.

It's Cruz who runs away with the film, though, and holds it together when it starts to feel insubstantial. Allen envelops his audience in sensuality, makes it salivate, and then uses it to offer some bitter life lessons. Still, for a romance in which nobody seems to end up getting what they want, Vicky Cristina Barcelona is deceptively satisfying, and leaves you with a sense of hope, however false. Think of that feeling you get when Annie Halls ends. Only there's no rainy New York, only sunny Barcelona.

One of Woody Allen's earliest and most undervalued flms. Based on one of his Broadway plays and directed by Herbert Ross (The Turning Point, Steel Magnolias), Play It Again, Sam is as a joy to watch as any other one of his films, Annie Hall and Manhattan included. The first hilarious and brilliant thing about it is Allen's character - a neurotic San Francisco film critic. The second is the fact that he has as an alter ego no one less than Humphrey Bogart, brilliantly imitated by Jerry Lacy. Then there's Diane Keaton and the chemistry between her and Woody that we all know. And finally a lot of film references, including Casablanca and its airplane scene. Fun and clever beyond words, a must-see for any Allen fan.

Although Woody Allen is always weakest when nostalgic - indulgence leads to caricature and overstatement - Radio Days is still fun and pleasant to watch. Set at the start of World War II, the film follows the fortunes of a family of Jewish underachievers. Mia Farrow shines as a Manhattan nightclub cigarette-girl turned celeb of the airwaves, but the real star is radio itself, that pre-TV device that provided the everyday unreality against which wartime America measured its dreams. Allen opts for a Fellini-Amarcord approach of formless narrative, larger-than-life coincidence, and rambling ruminations on what times there used to be. It's an obviously personal, very nostalgic film in which Allen only narrates. It's both a tribute to radio and a somehow self-gratifying celebration by someone who grew up listening to it.

Although an old-fashioned Woody Allen comedy of misadventure in essence - a story at the service of gags that are built around the personality of a neurotic New Yorker - Mighty Aphrodite is by far Allen's most optimistic and positive film. Frames of a very funny fake Greek chorus performing at the magnificent ruins of the Greek theater in Taormina, Sicily (their best bit of advice to the protagonist: "Please, Lenny, don't be a schmuck") and a wonderfully entertaining performance by Mira Sorvino, playing a dumb-but-good-natured hooker, rise the film to a higher level.

Probably Allen's most brainless (not in a bad way), Chaplin-like comedy. Sci-Fi, futurism, cryogeny... It's always a joy to watch Woody and Diane Keaton together, here in their most love/hate relashionship ever.

A more modern version of Allen's Manhattan Murder Mystery, set in England. An obviously minor but amusing effort, enhanced by his newfound love for London life and distatchment from America. Almost as suspenseful and seductive as Murder Mystery, with the obvious contribution from Scarlett Johansson's utter talent and beauty.

Woody Allen's reflection on how drama and comedy are often right next to each other, on fiction and real life. Good acting, especially from Radha Mitchell.

Certainly won't make it into any "Woody Allen's Best" list, but a genius' less achieved film is still better than anything most filmmakers will ever do in their lives. Feels at times a bit wretched and condescending but still has some of Allen's touch and brilliant dialogues in it. Christina Ricci's character is a tad annoying, but I guess it was supposed to be. Jason Biggs is just... not a very good actor.

Very likely to be Allen's less achieved film. Still funny, but with an unusually weak plot and bad casting choices.

Terry: "Gee, ain't life grand? You know where that's from? What movie? Ain't Life Grand, no? "Bonnie and Clyde". Two Barrow brothers having a fine time
and Clyde says, "Ain't life grand?"
Ian: You know what happened to them?"



Woody Allen's final film in his loose "London trilogy", with Match Point and Scoop preceding it, but - unfortunately - without his newest muse Scarlett Johansson's participation. Instead we get great chemistry between Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell who play two brothers caught up in a moral tale that unfolds in Greek tragedy and operatic proportions.

The draw of the film is no doubt the main leads. Ewan McGregor stars as Ian, who works in his father's restaurant but dreams of participating in some real estate opportunities. Only catch is he has no funds to make any form of investment. However he has this showy streak, and often borrows from his brother Terry (Colin Farrell), the fast cars from the latter's workshop, or money when Terry makes some extra income from gambling, which is his major vice in life.

We follow the story of the brothers for a bit, with Ian falling for small time theatre actress Angela Stark (Hayley Atwell), who's quite high maintenance, while brother Terry has his winning streak at the tables being abruptly ended, and turns out to be owing tens of thousands to illegal creditors. Both naturally run into financial difficulty, but then their family has a benefactor, a rich uncle (played by Tom Wilkinson) who swears by family and blood, and offers to bail them out, just like before, and just like how he had helped their family with everything.

Of course there's no such thing as a free lunch, and this time round there is a catch, as the brothers, in order to obtain their money, have to help their uncle in dispatching one of his business rivals. So begins the dilemma of committing the perfect crime, and the moral tussle between the brothers, one whom sees it as an obligation to repay their uncle for what he has done for them, and going to do of course, while the other just finds it wrong, and has to constantly battle the guilty conscious.

Named after a small sail boat that Ian and Terry purchase together, Cassandra's Dream is a commonplace and unmemorable thriller that, just like Match Point, culminates in a murder, an attempted cover-up and mounting feelings of paranoia and guilt on the part of the perpetrator. The main difference between the two, aside from their contrasting pay-offs, is in the treatment of the material. Whereas Match Point was taut, fresh and absorbing, Cassandra's Dream is contrived, implausible and tonally confused (though a drama, the film earns a number of out-of-place laughs). The central premise is not to be believed for a second, and the way Uncle Howard abruptly asks Ian and Terry to commit murder for him is awkward and strained. From this point on, Ian and Terry cease being actual people and resort to cheap script constructs whose actions and thoughts are dictated by the requirements of the plot. They, along with the film, are paperweight creations who feature few, if any, purely honest moments.

Woody Allen always gets good performances from his actors, and this is no exception. McGregor's Ian is wholly unlikable; a smug, selfish character that seems to lack a moral compass and any kind of common sense. He likes to think of himself as the more level-headed, put-together brother, but his life is all about posing as someone he's not. Dark intentions are bubbling just below his surface from the start. His infatuation with his girlfriend borderlines on creepy obsession and his fierce determination to get rich threatens everyone in his path. However, the fact that his character comes off as a futile prick is a testament to McGregor's talent.

Farrell is most convincing - although his London accent isn't, nor McGregor's (one is Irish and the other Scottish) - as the weaker, more likeable brother with a more guilt-ridden conscience. He's a bundle of boyish anxiety, even getting some laughs from the audience, and truly is the most "tragic" character of the film, if not the most sympathetic. Sally Hawkins is also quite good as his sweet girlfriend Kate. Both of their characters possess a grounded vulnerability and prove most interesting to watch. Voluptuous beauty Hayley Atwell plays the femme fatale role that belonged to Scarlett Johanssen in Match Point, and while not as memorable and provocative, does a fairly good job.

All of these characters, though, have become fairly standard for Woody Allen as of late. The plot seems like a recycling of ideas. Part of the problem is that Cassandra's Dream lacks subtlety and tension. We can see the consequences brewing a mile away and we're constantly being knocked over the head with symbolism. Allen takes the "dream" motif way too far. He makes his characters talk about their literal dreams, as well as the figurative aspirations they have. They're constantly saying things like "I had a dream about you last night" or "I dreamt that..." This also contributes to the film's feeling of repetitiveness. Repeating dialogue and themes drag the film down. It makes it too slow-moving to be the kind of thrilling drama it wants to be. Allen has made more than 40 films; this is one of the few that he won't be remembered for.

His writing here seems lazy, the metaphors obvious, the characters more like archetypes than complex humans. It's a good and exciting story, but it's hard not to think that if he perhaps turned his machine-like prolificness down a notch he might have been able to produce another brilliant Crimes and Misdemeanors. Instead, Cassandra's Dream just drags along until the finale, and doesn't offer any intriguing twists or tickle our brains any further once the dilemma is over and the decision to head down the slippery track chosen. A decent film for its star power, but definitely - and I know this is a massive cliché by now - not one of Allen's best, even amongst the "London trilogy". Good news is, Vicky Cristina Barcelona is only a couple of months away and word is it's the best comedy Allen's done since Annie Hall.