Match Point; or, the flutist and the dancer
D and I saw Match Point tonight. I don't want to spoil it for anyone since it's not even in wide release yet, but I liked it. Woody Allen was revisiting his themes from Crimes & Misdemeanors, but actually in a more fleshed-out way, with an added twist at the end. There was also this conceit of luck vs. morality throughout. It was more developed than his other recent movies, as well. I bet he followed an eight-part structure ;) His other recent movies had a wandering feeling, while this one was tightly plotted.
There is something reassuring about a Woody Allen movie for me. They always begin with white letters on a black screen. The cast members are always listed alphabetically. Juliet Taylor always does the casting. And the producers are always the same, though I forget their names now.
Anyway, one reviewer had said this was a nasty misogynistic thriller with a polished sheen. I didn't actually find it misogynistic. He did a good job of making certain characters sympathetic and others completely not.
We decided there were two themes: "Money has a price" (D's conclusion) and "Don't push a man too hard" (mine).
In the subway station, we saw a flutist working his way through Stevie Wonder's repertoire, and a man with a Jerry Garcia-like beard, a Santa cap and a varsity jacket doing his own little baked dance. It was oddly touching. We gave a dollar to the flutist, but I felt like maybe we should have given it to the dancer. When the rest of us got on the train, I looked out the window and saw them still waiting on the platform, almost like lovers.
There is something reassuring about a Woody Allen movie for me. They always begin with white letters on a black screen. The cast members are always listed alphabetically. Juliet Taylor always does the casting. And the producers are always the same, though I forget their names now.
Anyway, one reviewer had said this was a nasty misogynistic thriller with a polished sheen. I didn't actually find it misogynistic. He did a good job of making certain characters sympathetic and others completely not.
We decided there were two themes: "Money has a price" (D's conclusion) and "Don't push a man too hard" (mine).
In the subway station, we saw a flutist working his way through Stevie Wonder's repertoire, and a man with a Jerry Garcia-like beard, a Santa cap and a varsity jacket doing his own little baked dance. It was oddly touching. We gave a dollar to the flutist, but I felt like maybe we should have given it to the dancer. When the rest of us got on the train, I looked out the window and saw them still waiting on the platform, almost like lovers.
Comments
Then I remember some sick sax players. Those are the people I remember giving money to.
As for Woody, I haven't seen that movie yet. I'll have to see it. I've probably seen one third of his films.
In the JC I went to, they had an entire semester on Scorcese and an entire semester on Woody. I saw most of the Scorcese ones but only about half of the Allen ones because I was in a band at the time and missed a lot of them.
They used to show the actual movies in the JC's cinema screen, but have the class in a classroom. The teacher didn't care that people not enrolled in the class would sneak in to catch the actual movies. That's what I did, although I kind of wish I took the classes as well.