Review - Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Please make him stop

Has there ever been a director who has fallen so far, so slowly, over so many attempts as Woody Allen? He's the Ralph Nader of the film world, his downward trajectory marked by an early genius tarnished by repeated folly later in life.

Many fans will have some specific film in mind when pinpointing the last straw: An entry so egregiously dull, pretentious, or derivative of earlier work that they officially ended their long-term relationship with the director's ever-expanding oeuvre, preferring to re-live better days through the magic of DVD. Maybe it goes as far back as the mean-spirited, Mia-bashing Husbands and Wives; the condescending and meretricious Mighty Aphrodite; the pointless Smalltime Crooks. For me, the irrevocable jumping of the shark came in the form of Anything Else, a film, for me, that's pretty much unwatchable. It seemed impossible that the creator of Annie Hall could have also conceived of, in the same lifetime, such a misguided project, and not just for the money. It was like Orson Welles attempting one last gift to posterity and coming up with Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.

Not that Woody was ever Orson Welles. But he was ingenious in his own way. Can we make anything of the fact that his long decline started around the same time as his very public and vicious split with Mia Farrow? I think as a case of a creative figure's arrested personal development made manifest on-screen, we can. All of a sudden this exchange from Annie Hall didn't seem that funny:

Rob: Imagine my surprise when I got your call, Max.
Alvy: Yeah. I had the feeling that I got you at a bad moment. You know, I heard high-pitched squealing.
Rob: Twins, Max! 16 years-old. Can you imagine the mathematical possibilities?

(review continued)

Comments

[fielding]

Woody Allen's career is tragic? Riiiight....that's why Vicky Cristina Barcelona debuted at Cannes to rave reviews, enjoyed the same reception in the US, and is about to overtake Crimes and Misdemeanors as his 2nd biggest domestic hit since Hannah and her Sisters way back in 1986.

My question to you is - why do you even bother to see his films any more? You're obviously one of those weirdos who was somehow deeply offended by his split by Mia Farrow and have since viewed all his subsequent with a bitter and jaundiced eye. So stop wasting your time.