Match Point
MatchPoint is the new Woody Allen picture starring Scarlet Johanson and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Imagine if Hannah and Her Sisters were set in London, without comedy, without Woody Allen, with formal lighting and camera movements, and a thrilling departure (for Allen) in the narrative toward the second half. In other words, imagine a whole new beginning for Allen, or a return to form. In a year full of bad-taste films and liberal envelope pushing, Woody Allen reminds us that storytelling is not about pushing the boundaries. In fact, Hollywood has it backwords, boundaries are what help foster creativity and strengthen good storytelling. His film is based on Doestievsky's Crime and Punishment. Allen's strength is how he gets his characters from point A to point B subtley and naturally. In Match Point he does this exceptionally well and pulls the audience along with the force befitting a wet noodle, never pulling too hard, but never letting up slack either. I don't want to give away too much but one of the stregths of this film is where Allen chooses to end it. Appropriately I will end my blog here as well until more of you have seen it.
posted by Anonymous at 9:48 AM
3 Comments:
can't wait to see it. thanks drew.
I thought it was 'okay'. I think this may have to do with the fact that the protagonist is wickedly unlikeable.
I found that the at times unscripted dialog felt at odds with the time period and often pulled me away emotionally from the film.
Of course, I never anything but lust and greed from this protagonist of ours who came from such a lowly station. Crime & Punishment it may well be.
But Dostoyevsky certainly didn't leave it up to actors to write his dialog.
It had some good things. Probalby the main thing was that it simply was DIFFERENT.
And sometimes, different is all it takes.
I'll take a half dozen of his previous films over this one though.
Go see The Matador. (i watched them both...) It was hilarious and ended very well.
way more better.
me
scott - i heard matador was good and am excited to see it.
speaking of woody allen's other films, it's always bizarre to me when people say this is his first good film in twenty years. What about Sweet and Low Down, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Husband and Wives, Manhatton Murder Mystery, even Small Time Crooks. Joanna and I just watched Melinda Melinda the other night and it's definitely worth watching. Woody's had some misses but I think people tend to overlook a lot of his stuff because his personal life started to get in the way of his films in the nineties.
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