Woody Allen

Looking back, somewhere between adventure thrills of cinematic Robin Hood and technical wizardry of "Superman", the huge step in my childhood's perception of cinema (and a cornerstone of my own puberty years) were movies of Woody Allen. Those early slapstick comedies where neurotic characters babbled about meaning of life and poked fun at Bergman were screaming fun for me, while my parents couldn't find anything funny about them as they never saw anything like it and couldn't possibly relate to these spoiled New Yorkers who didn't have to wake up in ungodly hours for a factory work as they did. I adored Allen's movies long into 1980s but somehow as he became more serious and consciously arty, he fell under my radar with only occasional peek into his world. I have to admit here that I took him for granted - "oh,just another Woody Allen" - because I couldn't forgive him for changing.

"Midnight in Paris" (2011)
Woody Allen played me like a violin here.
Perfectly aware this is his own vision of romantic Paris (just like "Amélie") without graffiti, garbage or poverty, I dived into this dream of a movie somewhat reluctantly expecting "another Woody Allen" just to get myself enjoying it immensely. As I got pulled into it, my initial resistance melted completely, replacing it with joy, laughter and a wonderful feel-good experience.
Sure, it is so easy to be cynical and analyse Allen from thousand different points, simply because we take him for granted now - guy is making movies constantly and continuously for decades now, without ever really falling from grace or climbing out of poverty and rehab clinics that would make his story more interesting to media. As long as I can remember he created one movie after the other, experimenting and tweaking here and there, leaving the old skin behind and changing into a different artist - with still recognisable touch.

"Midnight in Paris" does not have Woody Allen on a screen - but his alter ego is present in character of gentle dreamer (Owen Wilson) who roams romantic streets of Paris with his obnoxious fiance and her parents chained to his leg. Its obvious that this is not a good fit and why would they even insist of catching him as a bridegroom when they hardly bear him is not truly explained, but director suggest it would be just another marriage of convenience. "Well, we have lots in common..." muses Wilson "for example we love Indian food..." and as the city gets under his skin, this dream seems to vanish because he can clearly see himself living different, another life far from these materialistic people. What follows is another typical Woody Allen magical realism where characters get lost in time. If anyone else made this, it would be sacrilege because it has already been done - but Woody Allen has all the right in the world to play with his own older ideas and he does it with grace, humour and magic. There is a very interesting question somewhere in all of this, about meaning of "good old days" which are always imaginary Heaven when compared to present time, movie suggest that this is illusion because any time was difficult for people for whom it was present. The movie charmed the socks off critics and audiences around the world and reminded me how much I always loved Woody Allen.

"Blue Jamine" (2013)
Allen could have continuing churning lovable "Midnight in Paris" crowd pleasers forever - but he is artist and therefore decidedly follows his own muse.
Falsely promoted as a comedy drama, "Blue Jasmine" is in fact a very dark, serious psychological drama with more than just a passing nod to a certain play by Tennessee Williams and if you thought Vivien Leigh is untouchable, just wait until you see what Cate Blanchett does as modern-day Blanche DuBois. It is not a pleasant experience and not only the main character slowly descends into madness but she is also intensely unlikable person - which makes this a huge acting feast for Blanchett but audience experiences strange sensation of rooting not for her but for her impoverished, working class sister (Sally Hawkins). Cleverly using contrasting joys of ordinary, low-income folks in San Francisco with sorrows and manipulations of New York's jet set, director also points how completely unprepared for "real life" Blanchett is - used to high life and doing nothing except parasite existence, she is horrified and mortally embarrassed to even think about having to work anything that would be (in her opinion) "bellow her".

As always, Allen has a cream of Hollywood at his disposal - and this should not be surprising considering director of his reputation. The one thing missing from a "Woody Allen movie" is a complete absence of any comedy - at least I did not find anything remotely funny here - and perhaps here is a root of basic misunderstanding of Woody Allen as a filmmaker, since he changed already decades ago into a different artist who is perfectly capable of superior psychological insight. Not that anything is wrong with comedies and he can still do them easily, but something like "Blue Jasmine" is after all, mature work.
Cudos to Cate Blanchett for biting the bullet and diving into such ungrateful role.

"Vicky Cristina Barcelona" (2008)
Allen's love letter to Barcelona finds now elderly director transported in a place completely different from his beloved New York and enjoying a romance with this magical town. Shots and characters are "typical Woody Allen" but it all have a new, spicy, Spanish flavor - no wonder, because it is one of the most intoxicating places I have ever visited, there is a strong atmosphere here unlike anything one might encounter elsewhere, be it architecture, history, people or simply combination of it all.

The interplay between two American tourists (Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall) and magnetic local couple who can't live with or without each other is pure Allen that reminds me on his previous movies ("Hannah and her sisters" for example) where close group of people live, love and hate surrounded with class, privilege and comfort - no one seriously works here, its all talk, wine sipping, artistic friends and pursuit of pleasure. Ah yes, this is Spain so we get classical guitar, poetry, paintings and lots of Gaudi.
Nothing wrong with that, except that in its heart this is still a tourist's impression of Barcelona - no wonder that work of local directors  like Almodóvar, who are inspired with dirt, sweat and blood strikes me as being far closer to home. Allen's world is a different one and he is not interested in anything so prosaic as ordinary people who can't afford to simply flight a plane to Oviedo on a whim.

Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz are both excellent, true heart and soul of this movie. None of their American colleagues come close to their passion, charisma and presence. Perhaps it was not Allen's intention but where his American expatriates relocated in Barcelona appear spoiled and bored, it is locals who are grounded, firm and determined. However, it is very enjoyable to see director so inspired by new locations and I only wish him to live a hundred more years and making movies around the world.