Name Woody Allen
Style: Comedy, Self deprecating and Drama
Why this director?
Woody Allen in his heyday played himself as funny, charming, romantic and very neurotic. He created real modern American characters - flawed, human, vulnerable and deluded, dressed up in simple everyday stories about "normal" people. His women characters are complex and strong. Allen was never a flamboyant filmmaker. With his photography, he just let his actors do their thing, really just pointing the camera at them, the camera being an observer under Allen's guidance. You don’t feel a movement of a camera and there's no real special effects or tricky art shots. It's all about performance and every actor or actress who has worked with him, say that he is amazing at getting great performances. He wrote both the men's and women's characters, casting himself, usually as a Jewish man trying to make sense of his own massive insecurities and fear of death. He gave his actors freedom to make each character real and believable. He was and still is prolific - unlike Kubrick you didn't have to wait 10 years for every film. Some say the quality of his film making has suffered over the last 20 years as he repeats familiar themes - with some notable exceptions like Match Point from 2005.
And whether the accusations of abuse by his ex wife, Mia Farrow and their daughter Dylan, are valid or a bitter revenge story concocted by Farrow after having been left for Andre's Previn and her adopted daughter, is still up in the air, though Allen has been cleared of all charges
It is worth noting that after 6 decades in the business, there have been no MeToo claims or from anyone under 18 years of age of molestation. Wherever the truth lies, he no longer films in America but he still produces them from Europe - these days his films are not awaited with much expectation- he has over-flooded the market having made at least 73 films in a long spanning career. He must be a workaholic.
My top 3 films
Annie Hall
Annie Hall won best picture at the Oscars in 1997. Before this great film, Woody Allen was a stand-up comedian who made small, oddball comedies that were not known for rich character development.
Annie Hall is a neurotic love affair between two hopeless cases, shot against a Manhattan backdrop that will make you fall in love with New York. Allen and his co-writer, Marshall Brickman apparently developed the story from conversations and walks around the city.
The relationship between Allen’s, Alvy, and Diane Keaton’s Annie, was at the centre of this comic/philosophical film and the two writers apparently only realised that this should be the core story in the editing room. The result is a trip into the mind of a man in midlife crisis, sifting through the wreckage of failed romances and into the mind of a charming woman with low self esteem. Allen’s nonstop joke-telling allows for dips into lightness, and the result is one of the greatest movies ever made of its genre.
Hannah and her sisters
Three men and three women are intertwined. Three sisters played by Barbara Hershey, Mia Farrow and Dianne West and three men Woody Allen, Max Von Sydow and Michael Caine, all harbour secrets or secret desires, mostly for each other. Mickey, played by Allen is as ever chiefly concerned with health worries, and fears he may have a brain tumour. Caine's performance is actually some of the most emotional, delicate and touching her has ever put onto film .The film won Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress. It is considered one of Allen's major works, with critics continuing to praise its writing and ensemble cast.
Another Woman
For me it is between Another Woman or Crimes and Misdemeanours. This won.
A happily married professor, the magnificent Gena Rowlands, eavesdrops on psychiatric sessions with a troubled Mia Farrow heard through the air vents in her office and reflects on her own impending mid-life crisis and her long marriage to Ian Holm. It is joke free, sombre and wise, showing Allen's serious side, and his devotion to the films of Ingmar Bergman. Allen said Bergman's Wild Strawberries was an inspiration for this..It is a complex character study of two women who don't know each other but have it all in common
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