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Woody Allen:::/Long....

Posted by gware (D) on February 6, 2002 at 02:16:59

In Reply to: Be fair to the man - he is trying. posted by Victor Khomenko on February 5, 2002 at 06:52:55:

I dunno; unless he's done something since "Wild Man Blues" and "Small Time Crooks" I guess I have seen them all. I am a very jaded filmgoer and once sat down and wrote a list of as many films as I could remember having seen, on the basis that I had to recollect the title, and at least one actor/actress or director; and the plot or theme outline; that list was 3,700 films before I gave up counting, and that was over 20 Years ago.
I've been very lucky that I have kept an open mind and been exposed to a broad range of styles; the downside being that the "B/S filter" has become so deep that there's almost no film I can watch now without me consciously or unconsciously comparing it to something I've already seen. This isn't looking through the Past with a rosy tint; I hated "bad" films just as much when I was a teenager.
In fact the level of criticism is further skewed by me thinking "Well, if only they'd done that" or "if only that Actor/Actress had/hadn't been used" etc.
I'll give you an example. Spielberg did "Schindler's List" and painted a picture with Liam Neeson of Schindler as a desperado that turned into a humanist; ultimately paying out an ill-gotten fortune to save hundreds of people. Problem is; as charming as the character was portrayed; the story was patently false. Schindlers widow said as much in an interview; that he was a duplicitous, selfish, avaricious uncaring, unrepentant monster, and remained that way all his life.
How much better could the film have been, if we had seen Schindler portrayed as he REALLY was, a completely unredeemable bastard, finally undone in a scene near the end of the film with him packing suitcases full of worthless Reichmarks, and then have him suddenly realising that they were worthless, and that all his years of profiting from slave labor had been for nought. That's the Scene I would've really liked to see. (Shame on you Spielberg; you deprived us of that moment).
That's what's my problem; if Woody Allen wasn't doing his ancient schtick and chumming around with his pals (have dinner with me and be in my Movie), if he could adopt some kind of non-"feel good" social conscience (as per Spike Lee) or actually have SOMETHING to say other than Hollywood chronyism and let's get sentimental about old New York, I might like him a great deal more. I thoroughly appreciate he has produced a considerable volume of work, and is a greatly admired and prolific writer and director. It's not the sin of commission, but the sin of ommission I am voicing here.
I tar the entire US film industry with the same brush, and Mr. Allen is not exempt. It is almost universally predictable formulaic drivel, a thorough misuse of the Medium and given the resources and talent at hand, in the context of what "Film As Art" is capable of; a disgrace.
I can only hope that if decent Cinema is to have a future; the Mike Leigh's will continue to not sell out, no more Peter Greenaway's or Tarkovsky's will decease, and a new generation of Filmmakers with a helluva more vision and courage than the current lot will emerge.
If that is unreasonable, then let us simply agree to differ.
Eric
Tokyo

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