briefly noted

Thoughts on filmmaking - Part One in a 1,000,000 part series

Sometimes a movie is just a movie- pure entertainment and an enjoyable escape. Yet, in the best ones you find a message that’s very poignant even among an absurd plot line.  I’m observing this through this month’s filmography study of Woody Allen.

Most recently, I’ve watched Stardust Memories, Interiors, and The Purple Rose of Cairo. Stardust and Purple Rose were similar as they both relied on fantasy, intellectualism (more in Stardust) and humor to reveal the underlining point. In Purple Rose, Cecila (Mia Farrow) lives day-by-day in a rut with her cheating husband in NJ during the Great Depression. She goes off to the movies to escape (hmm, might know a little something about that) and remarkably the character jumps off the screen and into her love life. She soon meets the real actor and they fall in love and she has to choose between the real actor and the fantasy. Her choice leads to the most real moment in the whole film and you’re left with the understanding that life is not like the movies and a big happy ending is never guaranteed.

Stardust Memories was a fantastic film that tells the story of a film director who is adored by many yet feels unfulfilled and burdened by his fame. He reflects on the women in his life - the nurturer vs. the troubled artist - as he analyzes the meaning of life. Obviously, he never gets to the meaning of life in the film, but he touches on something that makes sense - those moments that you never forget. Life has it’s ups and downs, but it’s little things like listening to Louie Armstrong sing Stardust while your lover flips threw a magazine on the floor that makes it memorable. It’s not the fame or the money, it’s the stardust.

Interiors offered a whole new side of Allen that to be honest I’ve never seen. It was dark, heavy and sad, but beautiful. The story focuses on a family - three sisters, the men in their life, a distant husband, and a suicidal mother and wife. I watched it on the plane and luckily the lady next to me cackling to Pineapple Express lightened the experience to a degree. It was emotional, uncomfortable and simply put, a sad story with many layers that made it complex and raw.

All three I’d recommend, but obviously the first two are lighter than the latter.