Post by StevePulaski on Sept 18, 2017 22:38:21 GMT -5
Love and Death (1975)
Directed by: Woody Allen
Directed by: Woody Allen
Diane Keaton and Woody Allen.
Rating: ★★★½
NOTE: Part of an ongoing movie-watching event I've dubbed "Woody Allen Mondays," where I will watch one Woody Allen movie every Monday and give my review.
It's a tremendous joy to witness Woody Allen in the rare, iconoclastic form he's in throughout Love and Death. One gets the feeling that Allen sat down to write this film and just let his fingers run wild at the typewriter, and before that, let the pen glide across his notebook paper, illustrating complex, interwoven references of Bergman, Tolstoy, Chaplin, and Dostoyevsky all with the angle of wry sophistication. For some, Love and Death might not be the most interesting Allen film, a point I understand, but do not say it isn't one of the most influenced and committed.
From his first appearance on-screen as the incompetent, pacifist intellectual Boris, Allen has scarcely looked more fitting and ready to embrace an ostensibly thankless role. Boris is forced to enlist in the Russian Army, working through heartbreak that Sonja (Diane Keaton), his cousin twice removed, is wedding a merchant. But when Boris becomes a war hero, the two wind up getting married just as Napoleon (James Tolkan) extends his invasion of Austria to the Russian Empire, instilling a "fight or flight" mentality in the Russians. Using his newfound status as a hero and someone of complete and total bravery, Boris hatches a collaborative plan between him and Sonja to distract Napoleon with romance and assassinate him in order to free both Austria and Russia.
A simple plot description of the film can be taken way too heavily or overestimated in scope and urgency. Allen's film is a remarkably light-hearted comic affair, borrowing from aforementioned influences that capably set the tone for a film that never takes itself too seriously.
Allen has stated that he regards Love and Death as the funniest film he's made, and he might indeed be close. The film is constantly humorous, although it relies on preexisting knowledge of media such as Ingmar Bergman's excellent film The Seventh Seal, Leo Tolstoy's magnum opus War and Peace, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. Allen's reliance on Russian literature and foreign films as a source of humor was always bound to be divisive, but the universal language in the film is its ability to continue the ongoing showcase of his "nervous" cadence, witty humor, and mile-a-minute dialog. Something is always happening on-screen, even if it appears muted in a sea of a distinct color palette and precise costume design.
Also essential to the film's success is that of Diane Keaton, who bounces off of Allen in a way she never has before. It's a role defined by mannerisms and facial expressions, in which looks and gestures must be at a moment's noticed based on the verisimilitude and situational comedy of the film. Consider the scene where the assassination of Napoleon is about to be carried out; a scene dominated by the looks Keaton and Allen's characters exchange over a hectic few minutes as Boris' bumbling gets the best of him. The scene is elevated not by Allen's ability to write humorous dialog but by his ability to choreograph instances that will heighten moments to bring them to the next level.
The only downside to the constant comedy on display throughout the film's pleasantly brief 82 minute runtime is it can sometimes overshadow the deeper existentialism behind the madness. Love and Death shares a characteristic Allen films like Annie Hall, Manhattan, and maybe The Purple Rose of Cairo possess and that's the feat of achieving new relevance and meaning when revisited overtime, with maturity and experience under one's belt. Love and Death asserts itself as an intellectual's film, as well as Allen as an intellectual's comedian. When one gains more knowledge and familiarity with the period and the texts that have come to define it, it's almost certain a more realized appreciation will flourish in conjunction.
Love and Death requires familiarity with some eclectic media and lengthy novels, but I feel the average Allen devotee won't mind too much. As a farcical period-piece, the film is composed in such a delightful form that it connects on the basis of being a full realization of Allen's comic strengths as well as his ability to craft a setup. The film was released in 1975, following fan-favorite Sleeper but pre-dating the Oscar-winning Annie Hall by just a year. Allen says that this is the film he's most proud of in spite of the one that garnered him an Oscar, and while some fans might be quick to disagree with that, it's not hard to understand why it's easy to fall in love with Love and Death.
Starring: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, James Tolkan, Harold Gould, and Olga Georges-Picot. Directed by: Woody Allen.