A new Woody Allen movie, titled “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger,” opened on many South Florida screens recently, but judging by the absence of advertising, you probably wouldn’t know it. Because despite the fact that the film has numerous bankable stars – Anthony Hopkins, Naomi Watts, Antonio Banderas among them – Woody Allen in the 21st century is no longer the mainstream, intellectual cinema powerhouse he was in the 20th. At 79, he’s still as prolific as ever, writing and directing a movie every year. But these days, his films are released independently, with zero fanfare.
Even the dwindling number of fans who have stuck with him into his twilight years concede that he won’t make another “Manhattan” – heck, he probably won’t make another “Deconstructing Harry.” It’s often justifiable criticism to suggest that Allen’s films in the ’00s have simply been going through the motions, bereft of inspiration as they recycle old tropes.
But there’s something to be said for loyalty — and the sweet satisfaction when it pays off. Allen is one of the few directors to whom I’m so faithful that I’ll be one of the first in line to see his movies no matter how poor the initial reviews and how lame the subject matter. I cringed through “Scoop’ and checked my watch ad infinitum during “Cassandra’s Dream,” only to be utterly charmed by “Vicky Christina Barcelona’ shortly thereafter. ‘Whatever Works,’ which appropriated Allen protege Larry David as the director’s on-screen surrogate, was Allen’s funniest trifle of the new millennium.
Rather than being a consistently impressive directorial canon, Allen’s work today is a total crapshoot, and his fans should rejoice in the fact that “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger” is more in the tradition of quality films like
“Match Point’ than limp throwaways like “Hollywood Ending.” Comedy and drama commingle nicely in a story of ill-fated affairs and romantic entanglements surrounding a gallerist’s assistant Sally (Watts), her unsuccessful writer husband Roy, (James Brolin) and Watts’ father Alfie (Hopkins) and mother Helena (Gemma Jones). These four principal characters either flirt, gallivant or outright sleep around with other people over the course of the film, some fizzling into dust while others form lasting bonds. As a writer, Allen still has piercing insights into human behavior. One scene, films in reverse shot extreme close ups between Sally and her boss (Banderas) is one of the most emotionally devastating he has filmed. And a subplot involving Roy stealing the manuscript of his supposedly dead friend adds a deliciously devilish moral dimension to everyone’s affairs.
There’s nothing remarkable about the plot, which occasionally finds solace in familiar formulas. But that’s expected these days. Appreciating a contemporary Woody Allen film is like having lunch with an old friend; you probably know exactly what he’s going to say and how he’ll react, but it’s still a pleasant, possibly cherished meeting.
