Movie Notes: Love And Death

June 19th, 2009

= 3 stars

Starring Woody Allen, Diane Keaton
Directed by Woody Allen

Synopsis

Boris Grushenko (Woody Allen) becomes a war hero as Napoleon invades the Russian empire, and strives to hook up with his highly intelligent cousin Sonja (Diane Keaton).

The Good

• At this point, Allen’s distinctive comedic style is finely honed, and jokes fly by at a blistering pace, with amazing efficiency. But there’s also a hefty dose of intellectual humor: philosophical debates on heavy subjects, and extensive satire on classic literature (Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy) and classic European movies (Bergman, Eisenstein). There’s an interesting balance between Allen’s more physical, slapstick early period humor and this brainier, literary sort.
• The funniest joke is seeing the stock Woody Allen character — a neurotic, New York Jew — in the midst of a period, Dr. Zhivago–like drama. This incongruity is made clear by deft, tongue in cheek acting on the part of Keaton and Allen — they play their characters with an awareness of modern individuals acting in a period piece. I mean, Allen sports his trademark black, thick glasses throughout which are totally anachronistic.
• Keaton is absolutely incredible as a more polished, female sidekick to Allen’s stock, nebbish persona (no pun intended). Loved the Bergman spoof near the end.
• While Allen’s previous movies were essentially funny bits strung together, this is the first that feels like a complete movie.

The Bad

• A fair amount of the aforementioned brainy humor was lost on me — while I’ve seen The Seventh Seal I still have yet to watch The Battleship Potemkin, and the Russian literary references flew largely, over my head. Folks that enjoyed Failure To Launch will think this a snobby bore.
• The extremely unhinged, nearly improvisational comedy of his previous work is largely absent.
• As a matter of personal taste, I prefer Allen’s satire of other subjects (sci-fi, sex, Shakespeare)  in his other movies.

Conclusion

As the last of Allen’s outright cornball adventures, I enjoyed Love And Death well enough, even if I’m admittedly not well-read enough to get all the obscure literary references.

Next Woody Allen Movie: Annie Hall
Previous Woody Allen Movie: Sleeper

IMDB: Love And Death
Wikipedia: Love And Death
Rotten Tomatoes: Love And Death 100%