Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
Possibly my favourite Woody Allen movie. I love this film more than just about any from the 80s, and Landau's brilliant, complex, utterly magnificent performance deserved to be nominated and win in lead, screw supporting. Alan Alda's delightful supporting turn should also have been in there. As a young film fan it's possible that my introduction to the relative worthlessness of the Oscars as a means of judging art was this film's loss in the screenplay category to Dead Poets Society.
CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS (1989)
Cast: Martin Landau, Woody Allen, Alan Alda, Mia Farrow, Anjelica Huston, Sam Waterston, Joanna Gleason, Claire Bloom, Daryl Hannah; dir. Woody Allen
Crimes and Misdemeanors might just be Woody Allen's most well-rounded film and a wonderful cap on his rather brilliant 1980's oeuvre, probably his most successful decade of filmmaking, if not his most consistent. Employing his tried and true techniques in a way that raises the characters to a believable level of self-awareness, moral quandry and the good ole fashioned de-mystified, mirror-in-front-of-your-face ugliness of human nature, his film succeeds in some rather understated and brilliant ways. In exploring such fundamental questions as "will I ever be called upon to face the misdeeds I've done during my life?", his characters are not hand-held through their travails or appointed comic stooges for the conveyance of Allen-esque observations about life. Their stories are real, interesting, dangerous and needle-piercingly messy. The examination of the complexities of the human condition may be at the forefront of the film, yet the director/writer can never shy away from his need to highlight the search for life's true meaning. This is probably the film that gets closest to an answer.
Married opthamologist Judah Rosenthal (Martin Landau) finds himself in dire straits as his frantic lover Dolores (brilliantly and tragically portrayed by Anjelica Huston) threatens to go to his wife (Claire Bloom) about their ongoing affair. Unable to mollify her, he explores other means of keeping her quiet which leads to a crisis of conscience almost Dostoyevskian in its scope. Meanwhile, down-and-out documentary filmmaker must suck up his pride and take on his wife's (Joanna Gleason) brother's (Alan Alda) vanity video in order to pay the bills and fund his passion project -- a documentary about famed philosopher Professor Louis Levy, a Holocaust survivor who promulgates the idea of leading a life of goodness and fellowship. Mickey becomes enamored with Halley Reed (Mia Farrow) who is also working on the film. Farrow manages to turn in another one of her dependably understated and intelligent performances. The two main stories intersect tangentially, yet coalesce thematically in beautiful ways at the end of the film.
Landau's compelling turn (for which he was deservedly nominated for Best Supporting Actor and, quite frankly, probably should've won) is most definitely the anchor by which Allen's film succeeds. He conveys the frantic and meandering machinations of a philanderer on the tip of being discovered and does so brilliantly. His scenes with the late Jerry Orbach are suffused with tension, but his quiet moments of memory and ponderance provide the film's most chilling moments. Similar to Gena Rowlands' character's journey into her past in the underrated gem Another Woman (1988), Judah must also come to terms with his family's tradition of honor and morals. The scene where he watches his family eating dinner over 40 years ago is rather illuminating, especially his alliance with an outspoken aunt whose belief system falls outside of the norm of the family.
Sam Waterston's supporting performance as a Rabbi who is going blind is practically Grecian in its overt symbolism (he's going blind but sees the most!), yet his observations on life are as poignant, touching and foreboding against the backdrop of the action of the film as any others. Allen manages to quietly touch upon several different themes -- guilt, incest, betrayal through the actions of his cast of characters.
This is a masterful work and certainly among the best of Allen's entire oeuvre. A director at the top of his game. **** 1/2 out of 5 stars
Next up: Husbands and Wives (1991)
Edited By flipp525 on 1214407089
Cast: Martin Landau, Woody Allen, Alan Alda, Mia Farrow, Anjelica Huston, Sam Waterston, Joanna Gleason, Claire Bloom, Daryl Hannah; dir. Woody Allen
Crimes and Misdemeanors might just be Woody Allen's most well-rounded film and a wonderful cap on his rather brilliant 1980's oeuvre, probably his most successful decade of filmmaking, if not his most consistent. Employing his tried and true techniques in a way that raises the characters to a believable level of self-awareness, moral quandry and the good ole fashioned de-mystified, mirror-in-front-of-your-face ugliness of human nature, his film succeeds in some rather understated and brilliant ways. In exploring such fundamental questions as "will I ever be called upon to face the misdeeds I've done during my life?", his characters are not hand-held through their travails or appointed comic stooges for the conveyance of Allen-esque observations about life. Their stories are real, interesting, dangerous and needle-piercingly messy. The examination of the complexities of the human condition may be at the forefront of the film, yet the director/writer can never shy away from his need to highlight the search for life's true meaning. This is probably the film that gets closest to an answer.
Married opthamologist Judah Rosenthal (Martin Landau) finds himself in dire straits as his frantic lover Dolores (brilliantly and tragically portrayed by Anjelica Huston) threatens to go to his wife (Claire Bloom) about their ongoing affair. Unable to mollify her, he explores other means of keeping her quiet which leads to a crisis of conscience almost Dostoyevskian in its scope. Meanwhile, down-and-out documentary filmmaker must suck up his pride and take on his wife's (Joanna Gleason) brother's (Alan Alda) vanity video in order to pay the bills and fund his passion project -- a documentary about famed philosopher Professor Louis Levy, a Holocaust survivor who promulgates the idea of leading a life of goodness and fellowship. Mickey becomes enamored with Halley Reed (Mia Farrow) who is also working on the film. Farrow manages to turn in another one of her dependably understated and intelligent performances. The two main stories intersect tangentially, yet coalesce thematically in beautiful ways at the end of the film.
Landau's compelling turn (for which he was deservedly nominated for Best Supporting Actor and, quite frankly, probably should've won) is most definitely the anchor by which Allen's film succeeds. He conveys the frantic and meandering machinations of a philanderer on the tip of being discovered and does so brilliantly. His scenes with the late Jerry Orbach are suffused with tension, but his quiet moments of memory and ponderance provide the film's most chilling moments. Similar to Gena Rowlands' character's journey into her past in the underrated gem Another Woman (1988), Judah must also come to terms with his family's tradition of honor and morals. The scene where he watches his family eating dinner over 40 years ago is rather illuminating, especially his alliance with an outspoken aunt whose belief system falls outside of the norm of the family.
Sam Waterston's supporting performance as a Rabbi who is going blind is practically Grecian in its overt symbolism (he's going blind but sees the most!), yet his observations on life are as poignant, touching and foreboding against the backdrop of the action of the film as any others. Allen manages to quietly touch upon several different themes -- guilt, incest, betrayal through the actions of his cast of characters.
This is a masterful work and certainly among the best of Allen's entire oeuvre. A director at the top of his game. **** 1/2 out of 5 stars
Next up: Husbands and Wives (1991)
Edited By flipp525 on 1214407089
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."
-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell