Good Guys and Bad Guys
I'm glad I saw Crimes and Misdemeanours. It reminded me that when Woody Allen is good, he's very good.
The film, his last of the 80s, is a moral tale "about humanity". There are two protagonists: a Jewish Upper Middle Class opthalmologist (Martin Landau) who has his mistress (Anjelica Huston) murdered to protect his reputation, affluence and family; and an idealistic documentary filmmaker (Allen) burdened with making a biography about his shallow sitcom producer brother-in-law (Alan Alda). Both are symbolic of a universe that is made up of good guys and bad guys. When the two meet in one of the film's final scenes, it is abundantly clear that the bad guy has prospered and the good guy has had his livelihood removed. This isn't Crime and Punishment, hence the title pun. In this film, those who are punished aren't necessarily those who have acted wrongly.
Part of the success of the film is that Allen lets Martin Landau create a multi-faceted character that works as a darker counterpoint to the Allen persona. Landau is excellent at conveying his character's processing of the moral dilemma at hand. The film carries a bigger dramatic punch because its essential message results from the choice of that character, rather than by an external element that forces the character to make the crucial decision. And our processing of that decision has greater gravity because the comedic "otherworld" on which we have relied for most of the film has disappeared. We are left with perhaps the most apt image of Allen in cinema - the wounded clown.
And that is perhaps the greatest aspect of Crimes and Misdemeanours - it feels as if Allen is speaking from an honest place for once. He's not trying to be Ingmar Bergman, hence perhaps his darkest film still possessing moments of comedy. When his character sees the ambitious associate producer (Mia Farrow) choose the shallow man over the man of substance; and in that masterful pan from Landau kissing his wife to a shattered, lonely Woody, Allen is in confessional mode. He is lamenting the fact that happy endings are only for Hollywood Movies - and that fundamentally he does not make Hollywood Films. It's his - and his character's - worst fear realised.
END NOTES:
Having said this, Allen still makes his trademark blunders. Some of the characters are archetypes who exist simply to speak and embody Allen's thesis. The symbolism is at times overkill - such as the final image of a blind rabbi dancing in a den of sin. And I suppose Allen is being reductionist in his contrast between "good guys" and "bad guys". Dubya would approve.
I should probably mention that the comedic "otherworld" is often very funny. My favourite moment is when Allen shows Alda his finished biography - which cuts from a megolmaniac Alda in a meeting to newsreel footage of Mussolini chanting from a balcony. Alda's reaction - to take over the making of his own biography - is priceless. There is also some great dialogue, the winner being "the first time I was inside a woman was when I visited the Statue of Liberty."
All in all - a very relevant film to the times at hand - and an offering from the Allen canon worth seeing.
The film, his last of the 80s, is a moral tale "about humanity". There are two protagonists: a Jewish Upper Middle Class opthalmologist (Martin Landau) who has his mistress (Anjelica Huston) murdered to protect his reputation, affluence and family; and an idealistic documentary filmmaker (Allen) burdened with making a biography about his shallow sitcom producer brother-in-law (Alan Alda). Both are symbolic of a universe that is made up of good guys and bad guys. When the two meet in one of the film's final scenes, it is abundantly clear that the bad guy has prospered and the good guy has had his livelihood removed. This isn't Crime and Punishment, hence the title pun. In this film, those who are punished aren't necessarily those who have acted wrongly.
Part of the success of the film is that Allen lets Martin Landau create a multi-faceted character that works as a darker counterpoint to the Allen persona. Landau is excellent at conveying his character's processing of the moral dilemma at hand. The film carries a bigger dramatic punch because its essential message results from the choice of that character, rather than by an external element that forces the character to make the crucial decision. And our processing of that decision has greater gravity because the comedic "otherworld" on which we have relied for most of the film has disappeared. We are left with perhaps the most apt image of Allen in cinema - the wounded clown.
And that is perhaps the greatest aspect of Crimes and Misdemeanours - it feels as if Allen is speaking from an honest place for once. He's not trying to be Ingmar Bergman, hence perhaps his darkest film still possessing moments of comedy. When his character sees the ambitious associate producer (Mia Farrow) choose the shallow man over the man of substance; and in that masterful pan from Landau kissing his wife to a shattered, lonely Woody, Allen is in confessional mode. He is lamenting the fact that happy endings are only for Hollywood Movies - and that fundamentally he does not make Hollywood Films. It's his - and his character's - worst fear realised.
END NOTES:
Having said this, Allen still makes his trademark blunders. Some of the characters are archetypes who exist simply to speak and embody Allen's thesis. The symbolism is at times overkill - such as the final image of a blind rabbi dancing in a den of sin. And I suppose Allen is being reductionist in his contrast between "good guys" and "bad guys". Dubya would approve.
I should probably mention that the comedic "otherworld" is often very funny. My favourite moment is when Allen shows Alda his finished biography - which cuts from a megolmaniac Alda in a meeting to newsreel footage of Mussolini chanting from a balcony. Alda's reaction - to take over the making of his own biography - is priceless. There is also some great dialogue, the winner being "the first time I was inside a woman was when I visited the Statue of Liberty."
All in all - a very relevant film to the times at hand - and an offering from the Allen canon worth seeing.
posted by Damien at 3:42 pm
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