While we polished off the chips and cups of tea, we watched a double bill of films from favourite directors: The Coen Brothers' O Brother Where Art Thou and Broadway Danny Rose, a mid-period Woody Allen, from 1984.
O Brother seems to improve with every watching. Supposedly based on "Homer"'s Oddyssey, and opening with a quote from the book, it contains numerous nods to the story despite claims by the writers never to have actually read it. Before even buying the DVD I was one of the many so taken with the strange charm of the soundtrack that I bought the CD. This is one of the very few films for which I have done that, the Aimee Mann-heavy Magnolia soundtrack being another notable one. The first thing that happens whenever we watch OBWAT is that one of us thinks that the television is faulty as the colour at the start of the film is noticeably washed out and almost sepia in effect. I noticed during the credits a mention of a digital intermediate and that is I believe the explanation. This was one of the first films to use a digital scan to work on and adjust the colours, the effect being quite deliberate.
The film is a joy, with some marvelous Coens' characters having enormous fun with the verbal pyrotechnics of the dialogue and various comic misunderstandings. Coen's stalwart John Goodman appears as Big Dan/the Cyclops and the chief protagonist Ulysses/Odysseus is played with great comic gusto by George Clooney, giving full rein to the Coen's trademark hair obsession.
The many links with the Greek tale have been examined in detail elsewhere on the 'net but what is more important to me is the many wonderful comic performances and the relish-able writing. A pity that the Coen/Clooney teaming also produced Intolerable Cruelty, my least favourite of the Coen canon.
Woody Allen seems rather a Marmite director: People either seem to love him or hate him and this reflects perhaps unfairly on their willingness to give his work a chance. I had been a huge fan long before distasteful speculation began appearing in the press about his relationship with Soong Yi Previn, the adopted daughter of Andre Previn and Allen's then partner Mia Farrow, so my judgement on his skill as a writer and film-maker had already been made to some extent. There also seems to be a perception that he always plays the lead in his own films (which is not the case these days) and that they always have Autumn-Spring romances where he as an older man ends up with a beautiful young woman. It's hard to deny that this does seem to be a recurring leitmotif through his later back catalogue, perhaps from Manhatten onwards but this is to ignore the huge variety in his films and to miss out on the thread of gold running through a huge body of work which every now and then surfaces in the form of a little masterpiece.
He, and we, have been lucky that he has continued to find finance for his film-making which though generally low-budget by Hollywood standards, do not show huge box-office figures and are probably better recieved in Europe and around the world than in his native land. On the other hand he continues to make a film a year and with so many it is perhaps inevitable that a good number are to say the least unmemorable. Some, for example Scoop and Hollywood Ending, did not get any kind of general release in this country, however those who claim that his powers have waned to an embarassing degree need perhaps to look away from the likes of the woeful Cassandra's Dream towards, for example, Vicky, Christina, Barcelona which demonstrated that as a writer and director he could still produce a memorable cinematic experience.
After Match Point and Cassandra's Dream I have to admit that I was truly wishing he would be banned from ever entering this country again and perhaps put under house arrest in New York where he does his best work but perhaps I am guilty of being too subjective. Outside of this country perhaps it is not important that he has absolutely no understanding of it or the nuances of the language.
Hard to judge Broadway Danny Rose, which was second choice after discovering that I don't actually own Bullets Over Broadway. It's a bit long in the tooth but not quite one of the famous "early funny ones". Some of the initial comedic impact of Danny's weird and wonderful clientele, like the one legged tap-dancer and the penguin which skated dressed as a rabbi, is lost in repeated viewings, nevertheless there is some nice writing and a wry look at Allen's own early career as a stand-up. Mia Farrow stands out in a not terribly sympathetic part now I look at it again. Strangely, although they were partners in real life their pairing on screen somehow seems unlikely. Nevertheless the idea that it is an affectionate tale of a good-hearted eccentric acquaintance of the group of friends )including long-time Allen producer Jack Rollins) telling stories in a restaurant still works well for me in a Runyonesque way and it is still one of the ones with the most satisfyingly complete structure for me. As I become less focused on the plot and dialogue, which is so familiar now, so I find myself looking more at other aspects. I found that I was appreciating the black and white cinematography by DP Gordon Willis a lot more, although the fact that it is in black and white no longer has much impact because it actually feels like an old film anyway after nearly thirty years. Not one of the absolute stand-outs of Allen's career then but a sentimental look at the New York show-business world that he knows well, warm-hearted and amusing. Probably still in the top ten Woodys for me, if only just. It dates from an era of Woody's work when the iconic white font on black that he always uses for his titles still was an absolute guarantee that I was about to enjoy the next hour and a half.
No comments:
Post a Comment