Movie Talk - Woody Allen Special
Description
Movie critic Jason Solomons looks at the long career of American director Woody Allen as he reaches the milestones of his 45th feature film and 80th birthday. Solomons talks about Allen's early slapstick films such as Take the Money and Run 1969 and Bananas 1971, produced prior to meeting his comic counterpart, muse and eventual partner Diane Keaton, who Allen gave as many comic lines and film time as himself. Their real life romance was over by the time they filmed Annie Hall in 1977 but as with many of Allen's films, this would mirror his personal life. Annie Hall won best picture at the Oscars, beating Star Wars. Manhattan 1979 has one of the best opening sequences in any film, Allen's cinematographer Gordon Willis shot the city in the black and white to the soundtrack of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue setting up the bitter sweet romance. Solomons explains that at the time Allen was becoming more popular in Europe than in America, he moved on from Keaton with new muse and partner, Mia Farrow. Together they would go on to make several films including The Purple Rose of Cairo 1985 and also Hannah and her Sisters 1986 that featured a superb ensemble cast of Michael Caine, Barbara Hershey and Allen himself, a film both romantic and comedic. Crimes and Misdemeanours 1989 clip is shown of the brilliant Judah Rosenthal. Husbands and Wives 1992 is another film that mirrored Allen's life, as the marriage was breaking down on film, it was the same in reality for Allen and Farrow. Following this came a spell of controversy that was widely played out in the media, Allen continued to make films throughout this period, writing and directing the highly successful Bullets over Broadway 1994 starring John Cusack and Diane Wiest who won an Oscar for her performance. Sweet and Low Down 1999 a gorgeous film with superb performances from Sean Penn and in particular Samantha Morton. Allen had decided to make several films in Europe, Match Point 2006 in London, from which one of the stars Emily Mortimer describes working with Allen in a clip shown. Midnight in Paris 2011 and To Rome with Love 2012 starring Jesse Eisenberg, who in a clip shown talks about working with Allen. Solomons then discusses a more recent film of Allen’s An Irrational Man 2015 starring Joaquin Pheonix and Emma Stone. British actor Jamie Blackley talks about being cast in the film and what it was like to audition in front of Allen. Solomon's wraps up the programme by describing Allen as 'one of the most unique and distinctive careers in cinema’.