2009. Dir: Woody Allen. Starring: Larry David, Evan Rachel Wood, Ed Begley Jr, Patricia Clarkson and Conleth Hill. ●○○○○
The philosophy of this film, which Larry David's Boris is keen to point out on numerous occasions, is that life is hard and transient enough that we should all strive for our own temporary measures of happiness, for Whatever Works. At heart it's a message of tolerance and forgiveness, that happiness is so fleeting we should hold on to it however it's obtained and not to begrudge other people's methods. Beautiful. Unfortunately the movie had the opposite effect on me, I left the cinema less happy then when I went in and I'm willing to forgo other people's happiness if this sort of tangled mess is the result.
I'll start in a positive way by listing the elements of the film I liked: the concept of Boris breaking the fourth wall and alienating the other characters was interesting (although it wasn't done well or with any consistency), Evan Rachel Wood gave a passable ditzy blond of the Mira Sorvino school of Allen heroines, the score was the usual easy jazz we've come to expect from Allen's movies and... No, don't expect any more, that's all I liked.
The flimsy plot follows bitter, nihilistic, semi-suicidal Boris, and the path of his relationship with Wood's Southern runaway Melody. Boris is clearly the Allen proxy but David shouts his way through the performance with none of the nebbishnish and self-deprecation that would have made the character work, he's not even rude and funny which would bring the audience some way around liking him. You have to wonder what naive Melody sees in him, and no the Pygmalian references in the film won't wash because Boris takes no pleasure in either the transformation (if there even is one) or the process of enabling this transformation.
Time, according to one of the direct to camera monologues (that's one where no-one notices him as opposed to the ones where people stare and question), passes and out of the blue Melody's parents played with gusto but no feeling by Patricia Clarkson and Ed Begley Jnr arrive separately as gargantuan stereotypes of deep south prejudices. Allen clearly doesn't know what to do with people outside of his usual social groupings has them immediately and without much warning lose their previous fears and anxieties and become a nymphomaniac and proud homosexual respectively.
I would say it was the influence of Allen's own Manhattan that sets these people free of their bonds, but you'd hardly know it was set in New York. The heady atmosphere of the city ever-present in Allen's greatest movies is barely noticeable with the location feeling the same as any other major metropolis.
All this, and much more, is squeezed into the 92 minute film making it feel like an eternity had passed before the end credits.
I want to end with more positivity, to praise Clarkson's costumes or the set decoration of David's duplex, but I can't. Sure these elements work, but they're uninventive and bordering on the cliched. Perhaps if I end with the one line that made me laugh out loud (and bear in mind it was an empty theatre so I didn't have an excuse for not guffawing often). Boris has just awoken from a nightmare panicking about is imminent demise - I did say the character was like a neuroses greatest hits for Allen didn't I? - and Melody suggests watching a film to calm down:
Boris I have stared into the abyss.
Melody We'll watch something else then.
Even that wasn't as good as I remember.
Wednesday, 7 July 2010
Whatever Works
Friday, 25 June 2010
The Old Masters return (out this week - 25/06/10)
It's another weak week of film releases as the World Cup continues for England (just about), and congratulations to the U.S. readers for also surviving the Group stages. I have no doubts that Russell Brand will propel him movie to the top of the box office charts, and I only hope he's a less irritating actor than he is a TV presenter/stand-up comic. On the more arty front there are two auteur's synonymous with the 70's who are battling for my endorsement, even though a blogger I trust has panned them both in the comments here, I'm going to pick Tetro as the film of the week.
The Collector
When watching Home Alone I expect you thought that the scenes of slapstick violence meted on the burglars was both justified and hilarious. This film riffs on those elements only using the medium of horror. From the writers (hmm) of Saw IV, V, VI and VII.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Get Him to the Greek
I have a small problem in recommending this film, partly because Brand irritates me and partly because I haven't seen Forgetting Sarah Marshall, from which the character is spun. Mostly it's because I've heard the majority of the trailer isn't in the film.... I mean really what is the point of a trailer if it doesn't show you stuff from the film. Big mistake.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Tetro
Francis Ford Coppola's second personal project, the first being 2007's Youth without Youth which in turn was preceded by a 7 year hiatus, follows two brothers (Vincent Gallo and Alden Ehrenreich) coming to terms with their destructive relationship with their conductor father (Klaus Maria Brandauer).
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●○○○○○
Villa Amalia
Isabelle Huppert reunites with director Benoît Jacquot for the fifth time, in this story of a pianist (careful) who abandons her life after her partner kisses another woman.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Whatever Works
Woody Allens output continues to be only sporadically entertaining with his first New York movie for 5 years. Larry David fills the Woody role, Evan Rachel Wood (40 years his junior) plays the love interest and the cast is filled by the usual group of stereotypical New Yorkers.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●○○○○○
When in Rome
I actually quite like the look of this rom-com. Sure I suspect it'll be cheesy and forgettable but the premise of boys being put under a spell when their coins are taken from the Fountain of Love is quite cut, especially when they get as smitten as they are in the trailer, and when one of them is Danny DeVito. Anjelica Huston also gets a role as Kristen Bell's boss so there's a reason for going.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Tuesday, 18 May 2010
Tuesday Trailers - Whatever Works
As June progresses we move from what has been second tier multiplex fillers that I have a vague interes in to a coupl eof returns from old masters. The first is Woody Allen's latest Whatever Works - not that it really is his latest, that's currently doing the rounds at Cannes, but this is the latest we in the UK have a chance to see. To be honest it looks like a minor Allen, inconsequential and only of any interest as the first of his films to have gay characters. I'll still go and make the effort though, I still like to believe he can shock me...
Whatever Works opens on 25 June 2010.
Wednesday, 14 January 2009
20 for 2009 - Whatever Works
For reasons I won't go into here (although I believe it's Karma related) I don't have time to write a long missive about Whatever Works.
Suffice to say whilst I'm not looking forward to it as much as I am to seeing Vicky Cristina Barcelona it's still Woody Allen, Larry David and Eva Rachl Wood in one little package.
