| REVIEWS
Ain't it cool review
Woody Allen´s "Melinda &
Melinda" opened yesterday in Spain (don´t know
about the rest of Europe), and since I know you guys won´t
be seeing it (the three of you) until next year, I figured
I might as well give you a few details about it, so you know
what to expect. I will be completely spoiler free.
First of all, let me clarify I´m a big W.A. fan, you
might wanna know that before you read my review. That said,
it is clear Woody Allen is not with Dreamworks anymore, as
this is a movie that brings the old intelectual Allen, some
deep stuff in here. Maybe not as deep as in "Interiors",
but certainly more interesting that "Hollywood Ending".
A lot of dialogue, (and I mean a lot), a lot of characters,
and a few laughs. That´s one of the problems this film
has, I´ll expand later.
The story kicks off in a restaurant while some people are
having dinner. They start talking about how a given story
with a given character might end up in a totally different
way depending on who´s writting it. So, a drama writter
will focus on the...well, on the dramatic stuff, while a comedian
will always try to find the funny side of things. This is
certainly one of Woody´s greatest premises, at least
at the beginning of the movie.
So anyway, the both take Melinda´s story and start
telling it, sometimes the drama guy is in charge, some other
times the funny guy has the say on things. As I said before,
one of the flaws this film has is...the comedy part of Melinda´s
story is NOT that funny...and sometimes the drama part ends
up being funnier. The thing is it does not appear clear if
this was Woody Allen´s intention to start with, y´know?
He was probably making a point about how there´s a thin
line that separates comedy from drama. At the end of the day,
you end up seeing a movie that is not drama, nor comedy but
something in between.
Another flaw I found is you never really care about Melinda´s
character, and that ends up being very problematic given the
fact she´s almost in every take. You don´t give
a damn about where she´s coming from or where she´s
heading to. But Woody Allen directs the film with such a firm
hand that is not that big of a deal either. Besides, there´s
plenty of secundary characters to care about and have fun
with. And this brings up straight to Will Farrell. As you
might know, he´s in charge to portray Allen´s
persona this time around. I read some reviews claiming him
to be the better Allen to date, but I might afraid that isn´t
exactly correct. It is true that he never overacts and never
pushes it too far, and that´s GOOD, but on the other
side he delivers a way too *cold* interpretation. I didn´t
find him funny at all. But hell, I never liked the guy to
start with, so do not listen too closely to what I´m
saying. Branagh made a much better job in "Celebrity"
that hasn´t been beaten.
The girl, beautiful girl playing Melinda (sorry I don´t
remember her name) is not that much better. I wish Allen had
given the role to a better actress, which seemed necessary
givene the fact she carries all this movie´s weight.
There´s a weird moment that could be described like
"Woody Allen meets Stanley Kubrick" that caught
my attention. At one point we are treated with a long, long
speech by Melinda that resembles Kidma´s speech in "Eyes
Wide Shut". A close up camara shot on her face, camara
not moving while she speaks...and speaks, and speaks for what
seems to be an hour.
Did I like this movie? Although it seems like I hated it,
I actually think this is a good Woody Allen movie. It is nowhere
as good as "Manhattan", "Live and Death",
"Shadows and Fog", "Husbands and Wives"
or even "Jade Scorpion", but it is better than "Hollywood
Ending", "Small Time Crooks" and "Anything
Else". It´s a good step on the right direction.
Damn, this movie has at least a plot with stuff going on.
It also has one of the coolest endings in any Woody Allen
movie, quick but effective stuff. So, to resume, if you don´t
like W.A., this movie won´t change your mind. But if
you are already sold by any of his films even before seeint
it, you´ll like it very much. After all, we are talking
about one of cinema´s last true genious, and everyone
of his yearly movies should be considered a gift to humanity.
Thanks Woody!!!
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