TIFF'D: Sunday, September 12

So I'm completely spent at the moment.  I'm not complaining but all this running around, not eating and not sleeping is somehow draining me.  Crazy.  I was exhausted when I got up this morning.  I slowly made my way over to see Julian Schnabel's MIRAL.  I will be interviewing the director tomorrow and I'm happy to say I enjoyed the film.  It is sensitive and political, an interesting combination for sure.  Up town after that to speak with the fascinating Bjorn Lomberg, the man at the center of one of the festival's more buzzed about documentaries, COOL IT, followed by a great chat with the director, Ondi Timoner.  When I left there, I was going to catch Dustin Lance Black's WHAT'S WRONG WITH VIRGINIA but instead my red carpet request was approved to attend the YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER North American premiere.  I was instantly freaked out at the prospect of meeting Woody Allen.  When it was over, I ended up not meeting him.  I almost didn't even see him as he was ushered into the theatre.  I'm not sure he was even taking questions really.  What has he not already been asked anyway.  I almost got to speak with Josh Brolin and Freida Pinto but they too were whisked into the theatre before reaching me.  I did however get to speak with Sir Anthony Hopkins.  He described working with Allen as the highlight of his life.  He was thrilled to work with him apparently and describes him as delightful.  He was a pleasure to speak with.

It was still lovely to be a few feet away from an icon like Woody Allen.  I had one wish for this festival and that was to meet Woody Allen.  Seeing him pass by me and hearing his voice trail off as he entered the theatre is still pretty darn good.

Be sure to come back tomorrow for Black Sheep's review of the Ryan Reynolds vehicle, BURIED.

Oh, by the way, the videos are still not working.  I'm not sure they will make it back during the festival.  I will keep trying though.

TIFF BITS: Sunday, September 12

It's Sunday morning, Day 4 of TIFF.  I'm a little sleepy and I need a hug but that's OK.  I have coffee for the former and may just hug a total stranger by the end of the day, who knows.  It could be considered fitting given that this evening is the North American premiere of Woody Allen's YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER.  I will be requesting a spot on the red carpet for that one so keep your fingers crossed for me.  This year, you have to stick around for both premieres if you get a red carpet spot.  If I do get it, that means I have to stay for the world premiere of Clint Eastwood's HEREAFTER, starring Matt Damon.  Life could be worse, I guess.

Today is also the opening day for TIFF's Bell Lightbox theatre.  I will be definitely heading over there at the end of my screening day to check that out.  TIFF has a whole big block party planned so if you're in the fine city of Toronto, you should head on down to King Street and John Street.  There are free movies playing all day and special musical guests throughout as well.  I haven't looked outside my window yet but if it is nice out there, head on out!

And if you're looking for movies to pay for today, why don't you check these one's out ...

127 HOURS
Visa Screening Room - 6:00
I accidentally caught this film yesterday when one of my other screenings was pushed back.  I had heard that Danny Boyle's follow-up to his Oscar winning phenomenon, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, was really intense - paramedics had to be called to a screening at the Telluride festival just last week. 127 HOURS tells the story of Aaron Ralsten, a moutain climber who gets caught between a rock and hard place for oh about 127 hours or so.  Jmes Franco stars and, much like Ryan Reynolds in BURIED (coming up later in the week), he has to command out attention in a cramped spot the whole time.  I like this one better than that Slumdog movie but be warned, there are some harder moments in the film.

COOL IT
AMC - 6:45
This Maple Pictures documentary snuck into the festival a little later than most of the films but instead of going unnoticed, it has caused quite a stir.  Director Ondi Timoner presents his subject, Bjorn Lomberg, an infamous figure in the debate over climate change.  I can most certainly understand the controversy; it is a very challenging film to watch.  Lomberg asserts a rather contrary view on how the world should be confronting our environmental woes but Timoner provides him the goods to make his approach seem credible.  The trouble is it goes against everything we've been programmed to think all this time.  I am interviewing director and subject today and I'm very curious to hear what they have to say.

ALSO PLAYING AND RECOMMENDED

THE TOWN
(click for review)
Visa Screening Room - 11:00 AM

MADE IN DAGENHAM
Varsity - 9:30 AM

I am off now for my first screening of the day, Julian Schnabel's MIRAL, featuring Freida Pinto.  I have an interview with the French director/artist tomorrow afternoon!  In the meantime, don't miss Black Sheep's TIFF review for YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER, just below.

Happy TIFF!

TIFF Review: YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER

Written and Directed by Woody Allen

Starring Josh Brolin, Naomi Watts, Antonio Banderas, Anthony Hopkins and Freida Pinto

Helena: I will not be alone. I will find love. I can rest assured.

If you’re watching an ensemble comedy where one man can’t stop obsessing about his attractive neighbour, where his wife can’t control her lust for her new boss, and where her father meanwhile won’t accept his looming death, trading in his wife of 30 years for a younger model, sending said former wife into the reassuring arms of a psychic, there’s a good chance you’re watching a Woody Allen film. There is a familiarity about Allen’s latest, YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER, that makes you feel instantly at home and keeps you comfortable throughout. The trouble with comfort though is that it doesn’t really bring anything we haven’t seen already, begging the question, why are we here yet again?

Comfort is ordinarily the enemy in an Allen movie. After all, if you’ve reached a place in your life or relationship where you actually feel comfortable, then there must be something terribly wrong. That said, how often do you meet Allen characters whose lives are all settled and lovely? The case here is no different. Set in London, every major character in this premise is at a place in their lives where they each feel unfulfilled and is longing for that next big something that will enter their lives and give them what they’ve always longed for – happiness. This being a Woody Allen film, I would not hold my breath if I were them. Still, Allen almost seems to be delighting in toying with them and his delight is certainly infectious. He may be exploring the same issues he has been for years now but in all fairness, these are the same issues most of us grapple with for all of our lives too. It doesn’t seem right to chastise Allen for not having understood love after so long. It’s not like I do either.

Allen opens and closes YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER with the same rendition of “When You Wish Upon a Star”. He may be allowing all of the little extensions of himself run amok with their fictional lives on screen but he almost seems to be suggesting that all of their issues stem from a desire for something more, that inherently negates what they all already have. Even the title itself promises that one day our wishes will be fulfilled but it also implies simultaneously that they can’t be right now as we have yet to meet this stranger. Perhaps it would be better if we got to know the strangers that are already in our lives; perhaps then we could want them there all the time instead of just when we’re at our best or worst. Maybe if we did, we might be finally able to get comfortable ourselves.

WHATEVER WORKS

Written and Directed by Woody Allen
Starring Larry David, Evan Rachel Wood, Patricia Clarkson and Ed Begley Jr.


Boris Yellnikof: On paper, we’re ideal but life isn’t on paper.

WHATEVER WORKS is not just the title of Woody Allen’s 41st film. It is also clearly a philosophy that he has applied toward his own life here on earth. Like many an Allen project in the past, this one makes no apologies for mirroring his own life experiences. As Allen does not appear too often in his own films anymore, there is ordinarily an Allen replacement to speak his voice and to do so with just the right balance of neurosis and paranoia. In this case, another famously awkward neurotic, Larry David (TV’s “Curb your Enthusiasm”), has stepped into Allen’s shoes, as Boris Yellnikof. With a name like that, it is no wonder he is such fatalist. At this stage in his life, he is divorced, living alone and loving hating humanity whenever he can. After he meets a 21-year-old Southern runaway named Melodie St. Ann Celestine (Evan Rachel Wood), his life becomes unrecognizable and he must now make whatever his life was work once again.


After a jaunt around Europe, Allen has returned to the city that he is synonymously associated with, New York City. New York now, after some time apart, is no longer romanticized but rather this is the New York that houses all of those who cannot find their place anywhere else. Allen seems to be taking it even one step further to suggest that New York changes those who spend any lengthy period of time there, whether they want to or not. Melodie, who in just her name is inherently more whimsical than Boris, has come to New York to escape her repressive Southern upbringing. Unbeknownst to her though, she has found herself in an even more restricted environment, Boris’s apartment. With no place to go, she weasels her way into Boris’s life and yes, they do eventually become involved romantically. The almost 50-year difference between them is all too easily linked to Allen’s own relationship with Soon-Yi Previn, who is more than 30 years his junior. WHATEVER WORKS was written in the late 70’s though so the parallels are merely circumstantial and Allen is smart enough to never show the pair in any overtly romantic expression. Their relationship is more symbolic than romantic anyway.


In last year’s triumph, VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA, Allen had a noticeably more relaxed approach to filmmaking and he brought that back with him from what seemed like a very good vacation. He experiments with breaking the fourth wall as Boris randomly addresses the audience about the story, or more specifically his take on that story. He is the only one capable of doing so and even his onscreen colleagues seem to think he is losing his mind a little. David is strong enough to make it work though. David plays Boris with his own brand of pessimistic social discomfort rather than trying to recreate the character that Allen made famous. That said, David’s signature character may not be what it is without Allen’s influence to begin with so the nod to history is present regardless. And with Melodie, a character who wants so much to embrace the beauty of life, there to counterbalance, Allen the director takes a decidedly optimistic favouring and exposes pessimism as mistaken insight when it is nothing more than avoidance.


WHATEVER WORKS will not disappoint Allen fans but Allen detractors will find plenty to pick apart. With an open mind though, anyone can appreciate this humour. It is an advanced version of Allen’s signature wit and structure where he even revisits some of the relationship themes he explored in ANNIE HALL. No one person in a relationship knows what is better for the couple or for themselves and Allen seems finally rested enough to accept that he doesn’t know any better himself. For whatever it’s worth, WHATEVER WORKS, works.

VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA

Written and Directed by Woody Allen
Starring Javier Bardem, Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall, Patricia Clarkson and Penelope Cruz


Marie Elena: Only unfulfilled love can be romantic.

What could be more romantic than a summer vacationing is Barcelona? You’re surrounded by art, history and breathtaking scenery. You meet people you’ve probably never met before and will most likely never see again. You can immerse yourself in an entirely different culture, learning something new about life and yourself with every passing day. Or, you can leave your every woe from your difficult life behind you and let it all fall away into the ocean. In Woody Allen’s latest, VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA, Vicky and Cristina (Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson) do just that. Vicky is going to learn while Cristina follows in hope of escape and before the summer is out both will learn that that which is inherently romantic is also inescapably complicated.


Vicky and Cristina are the kinds of friends that would likely not become friends if they met at this present moment but are good friends regardless because of a long and cherished history. Vicky is practical to a fault. Everything she does has purpose and function, including her fiancé, Doug (Chris Messina, who played the same “I am everything that is wrong with America today” character at the end of “Six Feet Under”). Cristina cannot stomach settling into herself, as she can’t stand that self, so she recklessly pursues paths of abandon in hopes of finding solace. They are opposite in everything they do, right down to their hair colors, but they find one common interest while abroad, Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), a painter with a dramatic reputation. Juan Antonio is a player but he isn’t playing. He’s unassumingly smooth and sexy in shirts and pants that are dressed down by playful sneakers. He is a passionate man and his provocative proposal to have both ladies join him for a weekend of food, music and lovemaking brings out the American prude in both Vicky and Cristina.


Still, the vacation does everybody good, including Allen himself. Stepping out of New York and into London for his (brief) return to form, MATCH POINT, rejuvenated a vision that was once great but had recently become monotonously unwieldy. Going to the Barcelona country sides for his 40th feature has a similar effect, in that his vision is refreshingly alive. Still, it is different than the London Allen of late. In Barcelona, it feels as if Allen were on his own vacation. This is Woody in sandals, a loose fitting tee and khakis. Sure, he’s still neurotically smothered in sun block but his grip on the film is relaxed, more organic. In fact, the film’s underlying criticism of American materialism and structure suggest that Allen is happy to be away for a while. Besides, if he weren’t overseas, he might not have had the chance to work with Penelope Cruz. Cruz plays Marie Elena, Juan Antonio’s ex-wife who tried to kill him before ultimately leaving him. Her insanity and is eluded to so often before she actually graces the screen that by the time she does, one shakes with anticipation for her arrival. Cruz’s presence is overwhelming, a tumultuous force that commands attention and can either destroy or nurture from one moment to the next. She elevates the overall quality of the film to exciting heights and it was already pretty great before she got there.


After years of troubled relationships both on and off screen, Allen is still going back for more despite it all. Having been around a few blocks though has given the man a fair amount of insight. He may not know what makes the perfect recipe but he’s still in the kitchen cooking because he knows that when you do get all the ingredients just right, you’re in for one hell of a good meal. He throws all of his characters into the fire knowing full well they will all get burned but that they will also all be better people for it. For all its complications, love or sex or however you choose to define your interaction with another human being (or with two or three for that matter) will ultimately transform you. The same can be said for VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA, a flame well worth getting close to.

Director Series: WOODY ALLEN

HANNAH ANNIE MANHATTAN
(in celebration of Vicky Cristina Barcelona)


VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA marks Woody Allen’s 40th feature film. In honour of the little man with the enormous influence, Black Sheep Reviews presents its first ever director series. Allen has always strived to produce one film per year and while working all the time might alleviate some of his neuroses with mortality, it doesn’t always make for great cinema. Still, there is no denying Allen’s unique cinematic voice and his place amongst the greatest directors of all time.

His recent offerings have been spotty at best, with exceptions like his aforementioned latest as well as the modern masterwork, MATCH POINT, standing out as reminders of his genius. And so Black Sheep Reviews looks back for a moment at three of his most distinguished offerings, HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (1986), ANNIE HALL (1977) and MANHATTAN (1979), while still looking forward to what Allen has planned for the future.


As a writer, Allen gets to take all of the thoughts in his head and throw them up on the screen for the world to over analyze. In HANNAH AND HER SISTERS, he gives us a handful of characters and lets us into their heads instead. The simple argument there would be how all of Allen’s characters are essentially extensions of his own psyche but this particular film is so feminine that it transcends his trademark intellectual masturbation. Hannah (Mia Farrow) has it all, or so it would seem from an observer’s point of view. She left a successful acting career on the stage to have children and raise her family. Her sisters on the other hand (Dianne Wiest and Barbra Hershey) can’t seem to get it in line and rely heavily on her stability. Only, while she picks up their messes, she keeps her own inside and everyone assumes that she’s just fine. Even Allen makes the same mistake, as he doesn’t give her as much screen time as the others, presuming they need the attention more. Just because you can take care of yourself though doesn’t mean you don’t have fears. Luckily, anything can be rationalized away in our own heads.


From the internal to the explicitly external nine years prior, Allen gave the world his masterpiece, ANNIE HALL. For me, there is no other picture that has better captured the dynamics of a difficult relationship than the story of Alvy Singer (Allen) and Annie Hall (Diane Keaton). At this stage in his career, he felt that he wanted to take steps toward more deeper, personal films. The fourth wall is constantly being broken, split screens allow characters to comment on each others’ dialogue without having to be there, and Allen even elevated his cinematic approach with long, continuous shots with characters coming in and out of the frame. Allen chooses to reveal the details –good, bad or transplendent – of the central relationship entirely out of sequence. This way, we get to see all the parts as one, allowing for a more profound understanding of how these two individuals came together and what eventually drove them apart. Allen has never been more celebrated than with this film and never has he deserved it more. His decisions are brave and his honesty is refreshing and revealing. ANNIE HALL is timeless.


Two years after winning the Oscars for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay for ANNIE HALL, Allen gave us MANHATTAN. It is no secret that Allen is a devout New Yorker and he opens this film as though it were a cinematic love letter to his hometown. Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” is the soundtrack to the opening sequence, which, in charcoal tinged black and white, frames countless New York spots, both known to tourists and known to locals only. The whole while, Allen’s character, Isaac Davis, narrates in voice over about how he and the city are intrinsically linked in order to establish the first chapter and tone of his book. What follows is the fodder of that book – an exploration of the ethical decline of perhaps humanity, but more specifically, New Yorkers. It is Davis’s belief, and one that he is not immune to, that Manhattanites create dramatic scenarios in their lives in order to avoid feeling anything genuine with themselves or another person – that Manhattan itself offers so much distraction that one isn’t capable of returning one’s focus back to what is right in front of them. This is, after all, where one can find all the answers if one can stop long enough to look.


Woody Allen likes to make his quips about the banalities of television or the superiority of New York over Los Angeles or the ridiculous nature of awards. He comes across as neurotic, overly cerebral and pessimistic but when you really spend some time with him, or at least the versions of him he gives us in his films, you realize that this isn’t entirely true. He is in fact overly neurotic and only slightly cerebral. Kidding, it’s just a little a joke for one of my favorite jokers. In all seriousness though, to call him a pessimist is prematurely dismissive. After all, would a pessimist keep trying as hard as Allen does to understand?

BLACK SHEEP'S WEEKLY NEWS WRANGLE

FESTIVAL SEASON ANYONE?
The 65th Annual Venice Film Festival opens on August 27 with the world premiere of the Coen Brothers' follow-up to NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, last year's Oscar winner for Best Picture, BURN AFTER READING. The pic stars Coen regulars George Clooney and Frances McDormand as well as Coen newbiews, Brad Pitt and Tilda Swinton. Like the Cannes festival, the line-up is short on American fare due to the wrtier's strike that halted productions that would have ordinarily been ready for festival season. Other high profile Hollywood pics include Darren Aronofsky's THE WRESTLER (starring Mickey Rourke), Kathryn Bigelow's HURT LOCKER (an Iraq war film with Ralph Fiennes) and Jonathan Demme's RACHEL GETTING MARRIED, starring Anne Hathaway as a struggling addict who goes home after ten years. The latter two will go on to screen at the Toronto Film Festival days later and all four titles find themselves in competition for the Lion d'Or.
Source: Variety

WHITE KEYS BOND
It has already been reported that Alicia Keys had been tapped to sing the theme from the upcoming Bond feature, QUANTUM OF SOLACE. This week, more information about the song itself has surfaced. The song, entitled, "Another Way to Die", was written and produced by White Stripes frontman, Jack White. White also plays drums on the tune which happens to be the first Bond theme duet in the franchise history. The soundtrack will be available October 28 and the film itself hits theatres November 7.
Source: Billboard

THE MARTIAN IS LANDING
Warner Brothers has given the green light to a movie based on the popular Looney Tunes character, Marvin the Martian. The project, which will be specifically aimed at the prepubescent crowd, will be a mix of CGI and live action. Marvin will make his way to earth with the intention of destroying Christmas, only to find his plans foiled when he gets trapped in a wrapped present. There is no word yet on who will helm the project nor whether Bugs Bunny will be making a cameo.
Source: Variety

TIM AND JOHNNY DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE?
Last week, Tim Burton confirmed that he has cast his Alice in his upcoming mixed CGI/live action remake of ALICE IN WONDERLAND. The actress is young, Australian, Mia Wasikowska. She might now have her Madhatter. In what would be a seventh pairing between director and star, Johnny Depp is reumoured to be in talks to take on this iconoclastic character. Burton and Depp first worked together on EDWARD SCISSORHANDS in 1990.
Source: Internet Movie Database

WHATEVER, WOODY
Woody Allen's 40th feature, VICKI CHRISTINA BARCELONA, is about to hit theatres but news regarding his 41st feature, currently in post-production, is already starting to surface. As per usual, details are scarce but Allen has revealed the title to be WHATEVER WORKS. The story itself supposedly centers around a relationship between Larry David (61) and Evan Rachel Wood (21). Gotta hand it to Woody .. he never shies away from exploring his own demons.
Source: JoBlo

SCOOP

Written and Directed by Woody Allen

MATCHPOINT was a welcome and impressive return for Woody Allen as a director and a writer. Lush art direction and intuitive camera movement framed performances that brought Allen’s best script in over a decade to a dangerously high boil. It was sensual and provocative with deeply layered imagery. It earned four Golden Globe nominations, an original screenplay Oscar nomination and made this critic’s best film of 2006 short list. It now seems its success has spawned a somewhat awkward offshoot, a relationship between Allen and lead actress of both MATCHPOINT and Allen’s latest picture, SCOOP, Scarlett Johansson. According to the SCOOP press (or perhaps a spirit appeared to me and told me about this while I was being dematerialized, I can’t be sure), Johansson and Allen enjoyed their quick-witted off-screen banter so much that she felt it a shame that the two did not have any plans to work together on camera. I suppose its possible he too felt this was a sad situation, or I suppose its also possible he saw this as a great way to spend more intimate time with his new muse, but anyway you look at it, Allen decided to write a script that would feature the two as the film’s leads. And so SCOOP was born, the story of an American journalism student in London who is on the verge of uncovering the identity of the infamous tarot card serial killer and thus breaking a ginormous story that will give her budding career an enormous head start. Great for her but SCOOP negates in an hour a half all the momentum Allen regained in the first two brilliant minutes of MATCHPOINT. I laughed my way through SCOOP but most of the time I was laughing at the entirely ludicrous root of the story and Allen’s obvious concessions in his script that were necessary to make it still questionably plausible.

Is this exchange between Allen and Johansson really worth all this trouble? Admittedly, they play well off of each other, both in their limited capacities. Hers, despite exhibiting a drastically wide range of emotions in MATCHPOINT, is her sometimes-hollow comedic delivery and his is that distant, glassy look that comes naturally with age but here makes him look like he’s drifting in and out of his senses. They meet when he calls her on stage. He is a magician; she is his unsuspecting audience member who must step into a box. Then, because it was in Allen’s box that she first encounters a spirit that gives her the scoop while she is being dematerialized (now that earlier comment makes sense to you, it?), she insists on solving this mystery with Allen’s help. They quickly become inseparable despite having any good reason to be in this caper together. He is constantly tripping over the lies the pair tells to get close to their suspect, often nearly ruining all their work. Meanwhile, he has no real stake to gain by helping her at all. A typical scene will have the two snapping back and forth, reaching points where they both alternately ask why they bother with the other, followed by the two inexplicably reconciling and eating dinner together.


Allen has been directing films since the 1960’s. He should have been able to spot some fairly simple story adjustments that would have better justified the pairing of the two. Instead of perhaps lying to people about Allen being her father, maybe he could have just been written as her father. No way Daddy will walk away and let his daughter investigate a serial killer no matter how much she yells. Instead, Allen plays a relative stranger, leaving the only reason for them to spend time together being that they share some solid chemistry and the same sense of humour. Oh, that was the reason for writing this to begin with. And that glassy look that Allen sports onscreen also found its way off-screen. SCOOP’s aesthetic elements are strained and clumsy. The set designed for the boat to Hades scenes (yes, you read correctly), looks cheap and static. It doesn’t even appear as if the boat were moving amidst the abundant smoke from the machine off camera. The framing and camera work are also uncomfortable and sometimes amateurish. As I found it difficult to focus on anything other than the strange movement, I just became sad realizing the depth and purpose in MATCHPOINT’s aesthetics may have been fleeting. Thank God Hugh Jackman is on hand as the suspected serial killer to distract with his effortless talent and impeccably smooth good looks.

It isn’t entirely fair to repeatedly compare SCOOP to its predecessor, MATCHPOINT, but I cannot comprehend how the same person directed the two. MATCHPOINT has so much cunning and energy whereas SCOOP suffers from Allen’s longtime philosophy that there is no reason why he cannot unleash one movie every year. Here's the reason, Woody. The result is a rushed work full of holes that expose it as a weak excuse to indulge two actors’ egos. Chemistry alone does not a good movie make, especially when the chemistry in question is far from perfect. Um, see MATCHPOINT instead.

MATCH POINT

Written and Directed by Woody Allen

The ladies who saved my seat at the nearly sold-out screening of MATCH POINT I attended, were having the same conversation probably everyone in the audience has had at one point in time before buying their ticket for the evening’s final showing.

“I know,” the lady furthest to my right exclaimed. “My boyfriend and I were watching the preview and then it was, like, ‘This is a Woody Allen film.’ It didn’t look anything like that.”

“I know,” the closer lady returned. “It looks really good.”

This leads me to two major points of contention when it comes to addressing MATCH POINT. First, the previews look like a drastic departure from Woody’s previous outings. It looks smooth, glossy, and conventional even. The other point refers to the widely established opinion of the movie going public that it has been ages since Woody made a good movie. From two points, stem two questions. Is it really that different? And is it really any good?

Woody Allen has been making movies for just over forty years so it seems reasonable to wonder just how much of a departure MATCH POINT really could be from a director who’s neurotic mistrust of love and life looms over most of his offerings. Even as he gets on in years and no longer takes on the lead acting responsibilities, cutting down to merely writing and directing one film a year on average, the ghost of the Woody Allen caricature finds it’s way into the picture (see Jason Biggs in ANYTHING ELSE or Will Ferrell in MELINDA AND MELINDA.) The lead here, tennis pro turned instructor, Chris Wilton is played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers. We meet him after Woody’s classic plain white text on black background opening credits, interviewing for a job and looking for a London flat. The young lad worked his way out of a poor Irish background into the pro-tennis circuit before retiring for a more stable life where he could appreciate the finer things life had to offer, like opera and art. In opposition to past leads, he is well put together, focused. He has his eye on the ball, if you will. This is not to say he has everything figured out or is without fear. He knows he wants to do something of value with his life, isn’t clear on what exactly that is but also does not let hesitation paralyze him. Upon meeting Chloe Hewett (the glowing Emily Mortimer), Chris’ biggest similarity to the Woody Allen archetype becomes apparent. Despite all his efforts and subsequent accomplishments, he is a pessimist. He may appreciate the finer things but his belief is the finest things are those capable of capturing and communicating everything that is tragic about life. Can a pessimist truly know love? Woody seems to think yes, at least at first. Chloe is an eternal optimist who has never known anything tragic about life and despite their differences they fall in love while walking around London, which Allen frames like postcards in much the same way he has framed Manhattan for years.

Woody has a strong handle on the visual direction, allowing characters to walk in and out of the frame when we would expect them to. There are no surprises, just a natural direction, suggesting that Woody knows exactly what we will want to see as we watch from behind bushes or fences. More importantly, he has an even stronger control on this, his finest screenplay since 1992’s HUSBANDS AND WIVES. MATCHPOINT is ultimately about luck, how little importance we place on luck despite the significant role it plays in our lives and how far we’re willing to push our own luck. Chris, a devout believer in the influence luck has on his life, decides to close his eyes and hope for the best when he embarks on an affair with Nola Rice (Scarlet Johansson), his soon-to-be brother-in-law’s fiancé. The two gravitate towards each other, pulled by an uncontrollable sexual desire. Separately, they each represent opposite ends of the luck spectrum. Chris is still riding his lucky streak, scoring his tennis instructor job, meeting Chloe, getting a job at one of her father’s business firms. Whereas Nola is still trying to escape hers, running away from her dead-end Colorado home, struggling to make it as an actress and eventually losing her fiancé, Tom (Matthew Goode). The question then is how much better is Chris’ luck when all the successes he stumbles upon are not what he wants but what he believes he should want?


Further strengthening Woody’s script, is the issue of class woven in and out of the entire film. Both Chris and Nola come from modest backgrounds at best and are dating members of London’s higher society. Tom and Chloe are happy, High-spirited people with all the time in the world to pursue their interests – opera, tennis, opening an art gallery. Chris and Nola have been working their whole lives to get where they are with Nola finding she still has a great deal of work ahead of her while she’s not certain she has it in her to get there. For Tom and Chloe, there is no flipside to the coin and new opportunities arise all the time. They’ve always been lucky and what makes them descent is at least they can each acknowledge their fortunate existence. Nola has yet to truly know luck and lack of enthusiasm in her speech shows how little faith she has in potentially finding it. But it is the taste of a fortunate man’s life that is new to Chris Wilton. He has a driver now and his new flat no longer has a fold out sofa bed but it does have one of the most spectacular views of London available. So when his affair with Nola begins to threaten his newfound cushion of a life, he is forced to make a decision for the first time instead of leaving everything to chance. This decision brings about a tension and discomfort that is so rarely achieved in filmmaking today. Woody manages to blindside his audience without using it as a gimmick or relying on twists to give the film its ultimate meaning.

Be it lucky in life or unlucky in love, Woody serves up a film about the game itself. We may all think that we have control, that we hold the power over our lives or that we are making the decisions that will move us forward. What Woody wants to remind us is that, like a game, we don’t get to make any of these decisions until it’s our turn to serve and we certainly don’t know what our opponents will do next despite how well we think we know their game.