Shadows and Fog
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Movie Reviews of Shadows and Fog
Movie Review: Shadows And Fog
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of Woody Allen's best and most intriguing. I loved that it was in black and white. It was so off the usual beaten path for Allen, and I loved it because of that.Movie Review: Light satire of a dark theme. Great atmosphere. Rewatchable
Summary: 4 Stars
`A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy' and `Shadows and Fog' are two of Woody Allen's `second tier movies, less highly regarded than `Annie Hall', `Manhattan', and `Hannah and Her Sisters', but nonetheless a great pleasure to watch over and over again for anyone who has a taste for Allen's movies. The fact that Allen's movies, even these parodies of classic works and genres are primarily about characters and their personalities, passions, and foibles rather than about story, so you don't loose the primary reason for watching the movie as you do when you watch `The Maltese Falcon' or `Die Hard' or even `The Terminator' for the first time. I have seen both of these movies several times and I constantly find new pleasures in the dialogue.
Aside from their both being genre parodies, both movies share several other aspects, not the least of which is Allen's usual well oiled crew plus great `visiting' Director of Photography. I am constantly amazed at the consistently high level of quality in the filming of Allen's movies, since he has a great reputation for bringing his works in within schedule and under budget. Part of his economy is probably due to the fact that while Allen as director is not in the same league as Martin Scorsese or even Clint Eastwood, lots of actors drop what they are doing to be able to appear in the next Woody Allen film. And, they probably appear for a lot less money than they would for Marty or Clint. I also sense in some scenes that Allen lets little flubs go to the final print which Scorsese, for example, would reshoot until it was perfect.
The casts on these two films are fairly evenly balanced between Allen's ever evolving stock company with Mia Farrow appearing in both films along with Allen regulars Tony Roberts in `Midsummer's Night' and `David Ogden Stiers' and Wallace Shawn appearing in `Shadows and Fog'. Since the latter movie has a much larger cast, it is liberally peppered with currently famous or near famous actors giving cameo appearances such as Kathy Bates, John Cusack, Jodie Foster, Fred Gwynne, Julie Kavner, Madonna, Kate Nelligan, Donald Pleasance, Lily Tomlin, Kenneth Mars, William H. Macy, and John C. Reilly. John Malkovich contributes an excellent performance as the second most important male character in the movie.
The 1982 `A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy' is certainly the lighter of the two as a parody on the theme of `A Midsummer Night's Dream'. Allan borrows Shakespeare's romantic mix-ups plot element on top of the idyllic forest venue to bring together two guest couples to the country home of Allen and Steenburgen. Jose Ferrer plays a polymath professor brother to Steenburgen's character. Ferrer is to marry Mia Farrow, many years his junior, on that Sunday at the country house. Tony Roberts plays a randy bachelor doctor brother to Allan's character. Hagerty is Roberts' office nurse of five weeks who comes along fully expecting a weekend of erotic experiences with her boss. It turns out that Allen knows Farrow and the romantic mix-ups take off from there.
The 1992 `Shadows and Fog' is an intentionally heavy parody of a mix of German impressionistic movies and Franz Kafka story lines with what seems like a cast of hundreds. It all takes place in what seems like pre-World War I Vienna, Berlin, or Prague or some other central European Germanic city. At the outset, it seems like a remake of the German film `M' starring the young Peter Lorre as a murderer. Unlike the `...Sex Comedy', the plot is much more involved. The first line involves Allen as a Kafkaesque cipher awakened in the middle of the night by a crowd of vigilantes with a plan to find a killer roaming the fog laden nighttime streets. The driving force of the plot involving Allen and the mob is that the vigilantes never tell Allen what his role is to be in this plan. They assume he knows his part and are irritated to the point of violence when Allen questions what it is he is supposed to be doing. The second major plot involves a dispute between circus performers Farrow (sword swallower) and Malkovich (clown) which breaks open when Malkovich is caught in a rendezvous with trapeze artist Madonna, the wife of the sleeping strongman. Allen and Farrow meet about half way through the film that brings Allen back to the circus after Farrow does a stint in a whorehouse and Allen comes close to being accused of being the murderer.
Both movies are primarily comedies, yet the humor in the first movie is based more firmly in the situation. The humor in the second movie seems to be more a relief from the perils faced by the two main characters. Although, the image of the positive side of having sex with a sword swallower is a very nice gag created by the characters' situations. On the other side of the coin, `Shadows and Fog' seems to have deeper observations about the human condition. Since I seem to be noticing some of these lines for the first time, after several viewings over the last 14 years, I feel even stronger about the durability of Allen's films.
Allen has always been a master of making very good use of familiar music in his movies. All the `incidental' music in `Midsummer Night' is from the works of Mendelsohn, including the music he composed for Shakespeare'' play to be performed in German. The music in `Shadows and Fog' is almost all taken from instrumental performances of works by Kurt Weill, primarily from `The Threepenny Opera' and the song `Whiskey Bar'.
Since I am a long time fan of Allen's movies, the only thing which disappoints me about these and all other of his DVDs is the fact that there is no director's commentary. This makes the difference between four and five stars for the DVD.
Recommended to any fans of Allen or comedy in general.
Movie Review: awesome film, mediocre dvd
Summary: 4 Stars
Alfred Hitchcock once said that directors and cinematographers had so perfected the cinematic techniques of light and shadow that it was a shame color came to movies when it did. Woody Allen and Carlo Di Palma's underrated masterpiece harkens back to those masters and adds depth to their exquisite method. With a claustrophobic feel even outdoors, characters and milieu conspire against everyman Kleinman (Allen), armed only with his pragmatically amorous landlady's pepper and the desire to do right (as long as there is no physical discomfort involved). From his stark and rude awakening by sinister vigilantes, through his reluctantly deepening involvement in the search for a serial killer, and to a final confrontation and redemption, Allen and his team capture the anxiety inherent in living an engaged life. Shot in a 26,000 square foot New York studio, sets are exquisitely mythic. Allegorical characters are played (with one surprising exception) flawlessly -- John Malkovich's narcissistic clown, Mia Farrow's dowdy wallflower on the verge of enlightenment, Julie Kavner's merciless ex-fiance, John Cusack's youth on a search for meaning, and so many others. (The one actor who doesn't ring true is Jodie Foster, delivering her prostitute's lines stiffly and self-consciously.) The entire experience, Kleinman's and ours, is obscured by shadows, fog and mirrors. At the same time, the protagonist's central desire is to become a master illusionist himself, under the tutelage of his magician idol (Kenneth Mars), who ends the movie with a philosophical assertion about illusions: "Love them? They need them .... like they need the air." This DVD version is disappointing though. It's great to have the film available, but the bells and whistles are not here. Material includes the movie itself, a scene selection feature, language and subtitle options of English, Spanish or French, a theatrical trailer, and an interesting but brief booklet that incorporates statements from director/actor Allen and a few factoids. (For instance, Donald Pleasence says actors looked forward to seeing the film because none of them had read the script beyond their own parts.)
Don't buy this package if you are looking for extras, but if you would like to own a great film in digital format, this is a wise purchase.
Movie Review: Creepy Lighting, Funny Script
Summary: 4 Stars
Woody Allen's tribute to German expressionism is better than most critics would have you believe. Sure there is very little plot to speak of, it's more a series of vignettes and gags than a cohesive narrative. Sure, it ends rather abruptly, never solving the mystery, but none of this stopped my thorough enjoyment of this film.
As the title suggests the entire movie is designed in shadows and fog. Shot with beautiful black and white photography, Allen and cinemetographer Carlo Di Palma create the look and feel of an unnamed East European city as seen in such films as M and Nosferatu. The lighting is set up so that in nearly every shot underlying shadows engulf the scene. In the exteriors a vicious fog rolls across the night sky obscuring most details. Through the fog bumbles Kleinman (Allen is his typical neurotic schmuck role) trying to find his role in a vigilante mob's plan to stop a serial killer roaming the streets. From dark night until dawn, Kleinman wanders from place to place meeting a wide variety of curious characters (played by an even more curious group of celebrities), the most endearing of which is a desperate sword swallower (Mia Farrow)who is has wandered into a brothel after fleeing her cheating boyfriend/clown (John Malcovich).
It is a little unsettling to watch Allen do his normal schtick while the characters around him are murdered, subjected to racial prejudice, beaten by the police and discuss such subjects as love, sex, and meaning. There is a subtext involving the plight of the Jews between the World Wars, foreshadowing the Nazis. Yet the gags remain as solid as any Woody Allen film. Amongst the seriousness of his subtext and the films he is paying homage to, Allen finds away to bring full bellied laughter. Though his quirky neurosis isn't as resolutely hilarious as it is in such films as Annie Hall, it is still enough to fill the film with mirth.
The film ends rather abruptly with Kleinman having never learned his role in the plan, nor the killer having been caught. Yet as the credits role we realize the mystery was not so much the reason behind the story as method in creating it.
Movie Review: Textured Humor and Darkness
Summary: 4 Stars
"Shadows and Fog" is a very interesting blend of paranoia, thriller, social commentary, and comedy. Black describes not only its theme but its look.The comedy in "Shadows and Fog" only barely covers the great apprehension and dread instrinsic to the town the main character inhabits. The film depicts the events of one night, and the tight time frame is matched by claustrophobic street settings, suffocating fog, and the lurking of an unseen serial killer. The tension created by the contrast of Allen's nebbish character and the paranoia rampant in the town makes for interesting viewing. The monochromatic palette, night setting, and tight editing emphasize Allen's themes.
His character, milquetoast and ordinary, feels deep alienation. This is underscored in the nightmarish way his townsfolk relate to him, expecting him to appreciate goals they never bother to explain. Loyalties and betrayals that are not understood by the protagonist work against his fragile security in the community. The killer personifies the dangers of urban living that have been simmering long before. The townsfolk are given counterpoint by a visiting circus, which highlights the theme of confused alienation.
Others have criticized the DVD's look, but I found it to be vastly superior to the videotape I previously owned. Or maybe it's the liquid TV screen I have. At any rate, the blacks and greys of the night streetscape are nearly three-dimensional, and the widescreen format preserves the cinematography. I think Allen in this movie has made something special.