Woody Allen: A Documentary (2012)
Country: US
Technical: col 113m
Director: Robert B. Weide
Cast: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Letty Aronson, Marshall Brickman
Synopsis:
The film covers the standup years, the break into films, and the Keaton/Farrow years in some depth, before sketching over the last two decades. There is considerable access to the film-maker himself and all his major collaborators, who are happily still alive.
Review:
Despite its inevitable omissions (Casino Royale and Martin Ritt's The Front are ignored in the claim that he always had exclusive control over his projects after What's New Pussycat?), this is a documentary that gains considerably from its focus on two principal ideas: the star's essential pessimism and restatement of the same fundamental questions about life and death in his work; and the elusive nature of public approval and critical success. The timing of the project was apparently ideal, since he had just had his first hit in decades with Midnight in Paris, though whether this is the masterpiece he has so long sought is a moot point.
Country: US
Technical: col 113m
Director: Robert B. Weide
Cast: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Letty Aronson, Marshall Brickman
Synopsis:
The film covers the standup years, the break into films, and the Keaton/Farrow years in some depth, before sketching over the last two decades. There is considerable access to the film-maker himself and all his major collaborators, who are happily still alive.
Review:
Despite its inevitable omissions (Casino Royale and Martin Ritt's The Front are ignored in the claim that he always had exclusive control over his projects after What's New Pussycat?), this is a documentary that gains considerably from its focus on two principal ideas: the star's essential pessimism and restatement of the same fundamental questions about life and death in his work; and the elusive nature of public approval and critical success. The timing of the project was apparently ideal, since he had just had his first hit in decades with Midnight in Paris, though whether this is the masterpiece he has so long sought is a moot point.
Country: US
Technical: col 113m
Director: Robert B. Weide
Cast: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Letty Aronson, Marshall Brickman
Synopsis:
The film covers the standup years, the break into films, and the Keaton/Farrow years in some depth, before sketching over the last two decades. There is considerable access to the film-maker himself and all his major collaborators, who are happily still alive.
Review:
Despite its inevitable omissions (Casino Royale and Martin Ritt's The Front are ignored in the claim that he always had exclusive control over his projects after What's New Pussycat?), this is a documentary that gains considerably from its focus on two principal ideas: the star's essential pessimism and restatement of the same fundamental questions about life and death in his work; and the elusive nature of public approval and critical success. The timing of the project was apparently ideal, since he had just had his first hit in decades with Midnight in Paris, though whether this is the masterpiece he has so long sought is a moot point.