I may be recalling the scene incorrectly, but I think it's in Annie Hall where Woody Allen plays a kind of neurotic, narcissistic misanthrope obsessed with his own death - anyway, it's Annie Hall, where Alvy Singer is going to write jokes for this insanely lame comedian, and the comedian has an idea about what he thinks is marvelously entertaining and Alvy skewers him with some pointed ironic statement and walks out on him.
That is what I wanted to do to this film. If someone wanted to parody a Woody Allen film, they'd make this one - there is no indication that Allen put an original thought into it at all.
The trouble with narcissism is that calling someone a narcissist is actually a form of gratification to them - Woody Allen, when confronted with the charge, would say 'Of course I know that - how could I not know that about me?' And yet in this film we're subjected with the same tirades, the same love of classical and jazz music, of old films, of everything that's insanely familiar and tired about an Allen work. I can't understand what Woody Allen gets out of making a film such as this - but I suppose he has to, and when people reach a certain age they should just be allowed to do what they want.
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How was Larry David?
ReplyDeleteAlso, have you ever seen Murder on the Orient Express? I think you'd really like it judging from your ratings.
ReplyDeletelarry david was.. okay. he did about as well as can be expected. he doesn't have the comic timing of allen, and since this is basically a character written for allen, he doesn't quite pull it off.
ReplyDeletehave not seen murder on the orient express, will have to check it out.