Genius! Period.
Is there any end to Woody Allen's cinematic genius?
Every movie of his that I'd watched over the last 6-8 months has made me bow my head in awe and respect for his infinite brilliance - be it directing, acting or, above all, script-writing. His deftness in dealing with the nuances of human nature, interplay between characters, imaginative set-ups, outrageously clever dialogues and original screenplays is one of a kind. One that has no parallel, can never be imitated, can never be reproduced.
Watched Zelig (1983) last night. What can I say that has not been said before! I could have never imagined that there exists a movie like this one. Shot like a documentary, using old stock footage and newly shot pieces which were 'damaged', run over, stomped on to give them a worn out look for them to gel with the original footage of the 1920s-1930s, the movie plays like a dream. [Forrest Gump (1994) attempted similar effects with some success but it takes guts, a no-holds-barred passion for cinema and large doses of insanity, to actually create a movie around such effects. And 1983 wasn't the most technologically advanced year for moviemaking.] And with Gordon Willis (The Godfather I, II and III) as the cinematographer, nothing can go wrong.
However, it's not the technical superiority alone which makes it great. The plot in itself is, though a li'l weird, extremely captivating. It does run out of steam towards the end 'cos it was a bit overstretched. A great experience, nonetheless.
It's like...take the 'News on the March' short at the beginning of Citizen Kane (1941), bring in a brilliant plot, add in some zany humour and 70 minutes to it and bingo! - we have 'Zelig'. But make sure you hand in the directorial reins to none but Mr. Allen. Or else you run the risk of ending up with something like those corny Star World-ish reality shows.
The movie, much like Scorsese's After Hours (1985) is a little gem that has long been lost in the midst of other illustrious works by the same director(s).
-*-
"It just goes to show what you can do when you're a total psychotic" - Leonard Zelig after flying across the Atlantic in record time... upside down!
Every movie of his that I'd watched over the last 6-8 months has made me bow my head in awe and respect for his infinite brilliance - be it directing, acting or, above all, script-writing. His deftness in dealing with the nuances of human nature, interplay between characters, imaginative set-ups, outrageously clever dialogues and original screenplays is one of a kind. One that has no parallel, can never be imitated, can never be reproduced.
Watched Zelig (1983) last night. What can I say that has not been said before! I could have never imagined that there exists a movie like this one. Shot like a documentary, using old stock footage and newly shot pieces which were 'damaged', run over, stomped on to give them a worn out look for them to gel with the original footage of the 1920s-1930s, the movie plays like a dream. [Forrest Gump (1994) attempted similar effects with some success but it takes guts, a no-holds-barred passion for cinema and large doses of insanity, to actually create a movie around such effects. And 1983 wasn't the most technologically advanced year for moviemaking.] And with Gordon Willis (The Godfather I, II and III) as the cinematographer, nothing can go wrong.
However, it's not the technical superiority alone which makes it great. The plot in itself is, though a li'l weird, extremely captivating. It does run out of steam towards the end 'cos it was a bit overstretched. A great experience, nonetheless.
It's like...take the 'News on the March' short at the beginning of Citizen Kane (1941), bring in a brilliant plot, add in some zany humour and 70 minutes to it and bingo! - we have 'Zelig'. But make sure you hand in the directorial reins to none but Mr. Allen. Or else you run the risk of ending up with something like those corny Star World-ish reality shows.
The movie, much like Scorsese's After Hours (1985) is a little gem that has long been lost in the midst of other illustrious works by the same director(s).
-*-
"It just goes to show what you can do when you're a total psychotic" - Leonard Zelig after flying across the Atlantic in record time... upside down!
posted by Anurag at 12:09 AM
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