Review for The Woody Allen Library

Woody Allen is one of the greatest filmmaker's of our or indeed any generation. Unlike many who have a hot period and then a couple of good films here and there, he is a filmmaker who is consistently creating amazing films. From the heydey of the 1970s with Annie Hall to the 1980s with Hannah and Her Sisters, the 1990s with Mighty Aphrodite, the 2000s with Vicky Cristina Barcelona and even in the 2010s with his recent Oscar win for Midnight in Paris he seems to be getting better and better.

If you were to release a full boxset of everything Allen has created it would probably be a 50-70 disk set, but you can guarantee that the majority, if not all of them, will be wonderful masterpieces. This set focuses on the films he made between 1994 and 2000 and it would be actually interesting if they continued doing this with one for his 70s and 80s films.

The set includes eight of his films: Bullets over Broadway, Mighty Aphrodite, Everyone Says I Love You, Deconstructing Harry, Celebrity, Sweet and Lowdown and Small Time Crooks. It also includes the documentary Wild Man Blues, from Barbara Kopple which looks at Allen's love of jazz music. Across these films we have 2 Oscars and 10 other nominations, 2 Golden Globes and 4 other nominations and countless other awards either to Allen for his Acting, Directing and most often for his wonderful Writing.

Now, it should be stated that if you were to list the seven greatest Woody Allen films I would say probably only two of the ones on this set would make the cut: Bullets over Broadway and Mighty Aphrodite. However, that is not to say that the others are not great. Just in comparison to something like Annie Hall, Manhatten or Hannah and Her Sisters they can't really compete. But I will still say that if you are a fan of Woody Allen you should love all of the films in this collection.

Bullets Over Broadway

Bullets Over Broadway is story of playwright David who in order to get his new work out must make a deal with a local gangster. The only hitch is that he must use his girlfriend, Olive, a sub-par showgirl as one of the main parts. This leads to many problems with Olive's bodyguard, Cheech who actually has better ideas for how the play should go. The cast also includes Helen Sinclair a washed up former star, Warner Purcell who has an eating issue and Eden Brent who insists on bringing her yappy dog. David must appease them all and try and still be the artist that he wants to be, but at what cost?

This film is simply wonderful. John Cusack is perfetly cast as David and the rest of the cast including Dianne Wiest in an Oscar-winning turn as Helen Sinclair is simply wonderful. Jennifer Tilly as the awful Olive and Chazz Palminteri as Cheech were also nominated for their incredible performances. Allen's talents are simply wonderful in this film with him receiving nominations for both his Directing and Writing. I would put this up with Allen's best work.

Mighty Aphrodite

Mighty Aphrodite is a simple tale of a parent of an adopted child searching for the mother. This simple premise makes for one of Woody Allen's funniest films with some of his best lines. Sportswriter Lenny discovers that his adopted child is a genius and that his mother is a prostitute. He then tries to help her get out of the business, as well as try to avoid ruining his own relationship. This is interrupted from time to time by a Greek Chorus who offer advice and generally narrate the course of the tale.

This film is fabulous, from Allen's typical performance filled with classic one-liners. Once again the supporting cast is miraculous including Mira Sorvino putting on an Oscar-winning performance as Linda the prostitute mother of Lenny's genius child. The whole film is just such an easy simple viewing that you don't need to worry about the social issues of adoption, adultery and so on, it is just a comedy film designed to make you laugh. The strange inclusion of the Greek Chorus is inspired and genius and worthy of its Oscar nomination for Writing (Losing to Usual Suspects, so it's understandable).

Everyone Says I Love You

Everyone Says I Love You is a musical using classic songs throughout in a love story revolving around an upper-class New York family across the city and also stretching to Venice and Paris. It is a throwback to the old Busby Berkeley musicals with extravagant song and dance numbers with some actors such as Edward Norton and Tim Roth who you would not usually see singing. After watching this, I will never be able to watch Fight Club or Pulp Fiction again after watching them singing.

This is one of those films that I am not sure about. The musical numbers are fine in general, but the breaking into song is a little awkward in a way that I have seen spoofed so many times that I kept expecting Michael Palin to jump in and say 'You're not going into a song while I'm here!' The comedy is a little flat at times and though it still has a lot of the Woody Allen wit and charm it doesn't feel as funny as in other of his films. That's not to say that it is not enjoyable, just not as much as his other films.

Deconstructing Harry

Deconstructing Harry is one of the most typical Woody Allen film he has made in a long time. Harry Block is a New York writer who writes about all his friends in his books, which alienates him from most of his friends. His previous girlfriend left him for his best friend and he is suffering from writer's block. While dealing with his feeling about being honoured by his old University with a writing award, he begins to ponder over his past and some of the scenes from his books (both real and imaginary) come back to haunt him.

It is at this point in the set when you think: Wow! Woody Allen has some of the best casts ever. This film features the wonderful talents of Billy Crystal, Robin Williams (in a wonderfully unfocused role), Elizabeth Shue, Demi Moore, Jennifer Garner, Tobey Maguire and many more. Allen seems to be able to bring the best out of all the people he directs and his writing (Once again Oscar nominated) is brimming with the neurosis that he was infamous for.

My only issue with this film is that it is sometimes difficult to tell which scenes are fiction and which reality and maybe a different look to these scenes would make the film a bit better. That being said, I still enjoyed this film and it is a great example of Woody Allen's philosophy on life.


Celebrity

Lee Simon is a travel writer surrounded by the celebrities he encounters in what can only be described as a mid-life crisis. Divorced from his wife Robin, a former teacher, they both try to get on with their lives. Lee crashes through disastrous escapades while Robin ends up working for a TV producer Tony Gardella. Both try hard to get over their neuroses and have a happy life.

Celebrity is such a missed opportunity for Woody Allen that I feel bad for it. I watched this film expecting it to be his version of The Player. Instead it just feels like every other Woody Allen film with one thing missing: Woody Allen. Allen decided to cast Kenneth Branagh in the central role and I felt throughout like I was watching someone do a very competent impression of him. True, it is pretty bang-on, but all the way through I kept thinking 'There is no reason why Woody Allen couldn't play this role.'?

Judy Davis as Robin is fine though I did feel every time it left to follow her character that the film felt a little flat. Maybe it is because her life gets better whereas Kenneth Branagh's seems to get worse as the film progresses. By the end you are not sure whether you are supposed to be happy for her when his character keeping falling and by the time the nearly two hours have passed you may have ceased to care about either character.

Rather than a film, this feels like a series of sketches, some funny such as Robin's sex lesson and Lee's ramraid with the stunning Charlize Theron, but some are just awkward. One of the main talking points when the film was originally released was the foul-mouthed turn by Leonardo DiCaprio hot on the heels of his heartthrob turns in Romeo and Juliet and Titanic. This series of scenes again felt like a missed opportunity and dripped with cliche. Other cameos include Winona Ryder, Melanie Griffith, Hank Azaria amongst others. Very few of them have any impact on the film and do not benefit the film in any way by their presence.

At one point, Tony Gardella, played by the wonderful Joe Mantegna, describes a Director as 'Arty, pretentious. One of those a**holes who shoots all his films in black and white' and I get that this was Allen poking fun at himself, but it is very apt. There is no reason why this film is in black and white. It is not a period piece, it is not using black and white to express anything or to try and capture a style it's just like he forgot to switch the camera to colour before shooting.

Celebrity is not a terrible film, but it is an odd film to watch as one narrative. If this had been a series of sketches revolving around these characters it would have been fine, but instead the throughline and the length really hurts it. There is much to enjoy in this film separately, but as a whole it simply doesn't work.


Sweet and Lowdown

Sweet and Lowdown follows the story of Emmet Ray a Jazz Guitarist 'second greatest in the world' who idolizes a great musician Django Reinhart in the 1930s (who is the first). Emmet's life is shown interrupted by real life interviews with critics including Woody Allen himself talking about him as if the characters of the film were real. Emmet believes that falling in love will ruin his musical career and he tries to avoid this until he meets Hattie a mute laundress who changes his life for better and worse.

This film is simply wonderful. Sean Penn as Emmet Ray is just a perfect mix of genius and loser that works so well that is thoroughly deserving of his Oscar nomination. As is Samantha Morton as the mute Hattie who has a perfect innocence and her use of her face to express her emotions is magical and again worthy of the Oscar nomination. The rest of the cast are fine, though this is one of the few Woody Allen film that is not brimming with famous faces. Other than Uma Thurman as Ray's wife and Brad Garrett as the owner of a club where Emmet plays I didn't recognise anyone else.

The use of interviews scattered in this film is a nice idea and by pretending this is a true story, but at times it doesn't gel like it does in most mockumentaries. Though it is a nice way of telling the story and at some points the arguments over fact and fiction in Emmet Ray's story is great.

Music factors within the majority of this film and though I'm not sure if it is Sean Penn playing the guitar throughout, but if it is the playing is amazing. I am not a huge fan of the jazz guitar style, but throughout the film is worked and hearing Penn playing a crazy jazz version of 'I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles' is superb.

Sweet and Lowdown is a very simple film and yet that's what makes it so good. Unlike other films that try to hard to create their world this film doesn't need to. By the effective performance by Penn and the great writing and directing of Allen this is another sweet film in his collection.


Small Time Crooks

Ray is a small time crook who devises a plan to rob a bank. His idea is to purchase a nearby restaurant as a front and tunnel under into the bank. His wife Frenchy decides to run the front as a Cookie business and it starts taking off. So much so that the place becomes a national franchise making more money than they ever would have gotten from the bank heist.

With this wealth spread between Ray, Frenchy and the others in on the initial heist they begin to try and make it in the real high-rise social world, but their upbringings makes this difficult. Frenchy decides to take lessons from local art dealer David, who is planning to swindle her, but her lack of business skills might pull the rug out from under everyone.

I absolutely loved this film. It is so simple that you don't even need to think at times and is one of Woody Allen's easiest films to watch. Tracy Ullman as Frenchy is perfect, earning herself a well deserved Golden Globe nomination. Allen as her husband Ray is perfect as the typical put upon husband who tries to assert himself and fails. The diamond in this film is Elaine May as May, the simple cashier who keeps almost revealing the plans to anyone who may care to listen to her. Hugh Grant is also wonderful in his typically English toff role with a sinister edge, which was very rare for him at this time.

Small Time Crooks is a film I would recommend for those who may not want all the neurotic comedy of some of Allen's work, but just wants perfectly timed and pitched jokes, which this film has in abundance.


Wild Man Blues

Wild Man Blues is not so much a documentary about jazz music or about Woody Allen, it is about so much more than that. Barbara Kopple follows him on his 1996 tour of Europe with his band from New Orleans in which he plays clarinet. We see that rather than this just being a hobby, this is something that Allen has a passion and a true talent for. You see him playing music that really brings together that New Orleans spirit and you can understand why most of his films have this type of music in it.

However, one of the main reasons why people are curious about this film is that it is the first time Allen and Soon-Yi Previn are shown as a couple. For those unaware, Soon-Yi is the adopted daughter of Allen's previous partner Mia Farrow who he also had a son with. This was a huge scandal at the time with their son Ronan saying that it's difficult to speak to Allen when he is both his father and brother in law?

Watching them interact it's not as creepy as the media would make out. Soon-Yi seems to be a sensible mind to calm down the neurotic nature of Woody Allen. Watching this documentary with him doubting his talents and doubting whether anyone would even want to watch him shows that the characters he creates in his films are not far from the truth.

The documentary is simply fascinating and though the music is not something I have an interest in, the passion and enthusiasm from Allen made me want to take an interest. At nearly two hours it is a little long, but it flows perfectly and the interviews are very candid particularly near the end when we hear from Allen's parents.

Wild Man Blues is not a documentary if you are interested in Woody Allen the filmmaker, but if you are interested in Woody Allen the man, then this may be the one for you. I enjoyed every minute of it and when I consider it is not a subject matter or type of music that should interest me, this is a great achievement.


The Woody Allen Library is a great set that only suffers from the fact that it doesn't include some of his more critically acclaimed works. That is not to say this is not the best of Woody Allen, the fact is even on an off day such as Celebrity, it still has moments to enjoy.

The only other thing that hurts is the lack of extras. I expected some deleted scenes, trailers, production notes, something, but each film is just that, the film and nothing more. It is true that some of these films can be appreciated without Outtakes and Making of Documentaries, but some would have needed a little extra to make it worthwhile owning.

When Allen is at his best such as Bullets Over Broadway, he can deliver a wonderfully memorable film and when he is at his worst, he can still deliver a film that is at least watchable. I would not say anything on this set shouldn't be on here and as a collection of his films if you are a fan of his work or even of comedy in general, you will enjoy it.