Crimes and Misdemeanors
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Movie Reviews of Crimes and Misdemeanors
Movie Review: One of Allen's best...
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm a huge Allen fan, but I realize that he's the type of director that some people never appreciate no matter how much I try to convince them. This movie doesn't change that: you'll probably love it if you like Allen, but if he always annoys you, then you shouldn't expect anything different.
Like many of Allen's later day dramas, he's not playing the main character. Instead, the film tells the story of several people who are loosely connected. In this case, the main character is Martin Landau, a successful opthamologist who's having an affair with Anjelica Huston. When she threatens to blow the whistle, he's forced to do something sinister to protect his marriage.
The movie turns into an interesting study of right versus wrong and even asks a lot of questions about religion by focusing on Landau's story, as well as the individual stories of other characters, like a rabbi played by Sam Waterson, and a struggling documentary maker played by Allen himself.
For the most part, this movie is a drama, but that doesn't mean it's free of laughs. Allen provides plenty of comic relief through his own character. Mia Farrow and Alan Alda bring laughs, as well.
In closing, you'll probably love this if you like the cynical side that Allen shows in movies like "Husbands and Wives".
Movie Review: "Human happiness does not seem to be included in the design of creation...
Summary: 5 Stars
...If you want a happy ending, you should go see a Hollywood movie"
"Crimes and Misdemeanors" (1989)- is Woody Allen's masterpiece and my favorite film. It is urban and sophisticated, subtle and cruel. It is darker than dark and self-ironic. It is profound and touchingly poignant. It is deadly serious and in the same time it is incredibly funny. Its humor is razor sharp and sparkling and the best and funniest Woody's one-liners and comic performances belong here. As always in his best films, Allen had created a clever and elegant film out of his own weaknesses and insecurities and it shines. How much was Allen able to meditate on life, death, God, religion, morality, crimes and the responsibility, love and lust, happiness and the price one pays for it, and among those eternal subjects - how much fun it is to skip work or school and to sneak to the movies.
It is universal. It has the references to many Artists and cultures - Chekhov, Dostoyevsky, and Bergman among the others but it is so undeniably and uniquely Allen. It could not have been made by any other director.
It is the movie Allen will be remembered for.
Movie Review: This sort of thing only happens in the movies...
Summary: 5 Stars
Central to this film is the ancient tragic question; is there a higher equalizer for our actions, or do we have to judge ourselves because there is no higher authority and meaning? Woody suggests the latter in the spirit of Sophicles and the Greeks.
Bringing the two stories together at the end with Allen and Landau might be the best scene in Woody's career. In this scene Allen puts a twist on the Greek self-flagualtion and instead gives an ironic 'Hollywood ending'. Doubly ironic since the happily self-absolved man chides the Allen character for being too influenced by the movies... See it for yourself and you'll understand...
This film also has a very artful use of the other theme of 'vision'. As the rabbi has a clear and grateful conscience even while losing his faculty of sight, Mr. Allen brings in very spiritual overtones about satisfaction in life coming from an inward illumination, rather than outward lusts.
One criticism however; the two "big ideas" of the philosophy professor character are actually very tired and decidedly middlebrow retreads - one from Soren Kirkregarrd, and the other from some book called "love Maps".
Movie Review: Dark and Brilliant.
Summary: 5 Stars
In my mind, this is Allen's blackest film. He plunges the depth of the human existence and finds that there is little redeeming about our lives. Judaic figures like Rabbi Ben and the family father are set up as straw men who argue that God sees everything and that there is a moral center to the universe. The character of Judah, and his actions in the movie, suggest that they were wrong. Their views are also refuted during the Passover seder scene, and later when the philosopher who is so admired commits suicide after writing the simple phrase, "I've gone out the window."
The worldview of "Crimes and Misdemeanors" is not one that I agree with but the excellence of the film is undeniable. The characters come together perfectly and Allen's own role of "loser" is outstanding. There is considerable humor here as well, such as the documentary that is made about Lester [Allen Alda] where he is compared to Mussolini and a bellowing mule. Yet, on the whole, the movie is more bitter than sweet, but it was a great achievement for Allen. This isn't just for diehard fans; everyone could find something fascinating in its 104 minutes.
Movie Review: TRAGEDY MEETS COMEDY IN ONE OF WOODY'S FINEST FILMS
Summary: 5 Stars
Perhaps Woody Allen's finest writing and directing, rich in irony, symbolism and impeccably well-crafted characters. It is amazing to watch how Woody moves back and forth between two separate storylines (a first very dark and sinister plot starring Martin Landau...and a second comedic tale with Woody, Mia Farrow and Alan Alda) and ingeniously brings together all of the major characters from both stories to interact in the film's final scene. Woody's writing in the scenes starring Sam Waterston (who portrays a priest who is gradually losing his eyesight)and Landau (who plays Waterston's eye surgeon and a character whose choices are leading him into a kind of moral blindness) is especially prolific and insightful. This is a film with tragic overtones contrasting with some of the funniest scenes of Woody's writing and directing career. Not to be missed...it grows richer with every viewing.