The Purple Rose of Cairo
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Movie Reviews of The Purple Rose of Cairo
Movie Review: Phoned-in Woody...
Summary: 3 Stars
You have to wonder about some artists. Stephen Sondheim considers "Someone In a Tree" from Pacific Overtures to be the best song he ever wrote. Every Sondheim fan I tell that to looks at me with a befuddled expression.
And Woody considers this one-joke (or I should say one-premise, because it's not really funny) movie to be "his best," or at least among his best three. (Depends when you ask him.) I saw The Purple Rose of Cairo when it came out in 1985 and I was just out of high school. I thought it was...okay. Being that I'm now older and have lived life more I thought maybe there was rich subtlety that I'd missed, so I rented it for a second look. I still think it's...okay.
The Purple Rose reminds me of the sort of short stories he would write for The New Yorker back in the 1970s, which were later collected into the books Side Effects, Without Feathers, etc. They aren't fully-developed ideas but have an interesting twist or two. Except that here the twist gets old really fast. After the actor leaves the screen we get endless scenes about how the real world is different from Hollywood movies--the money, the cars (they don't automatically have the key in them as they do in the movies), fist fights. It's all clever and charming--and completely expected--for about ten minutes. Then it gets old. Next we get a double-romance as Farrow two-times the character on screen for the real-world version of himself. Mildly amusing, but it's not developed. The two versions of Jeff Daniels' character never really have a big scene together, and when they do meet, their interaction is entirely predictable. Then we get the expected scenes where the screen character's innocence is contrasted with the real world, particularly when Dianne Wiest, who's about the best thing in this movie, takes him to a brothel to meet her working partners. ("You wanna tie me up?"--probably the film's funniest line.)
Not only are most of the film's premises tired, but the staging is tired as well. Unusually for Allen, who often displays a good deal of arty technique in his films, here characters just walk on screen, say their lines in front of a largely stationary camera, and walk off. Sets are simple to the point of looking like creations for a low-budget TV show. Yes, I know it's the Depression and things are supposed to be rickety; you can still do interesting things with rickety. And there isn't one scene that is really strongly "directed." I felt like I was watching a videography of a local stage play.
I almost get the feeling that while Woody was researching Zelig, which takes place during the same period and is a better film, he unearthed various bits he could not fit, so he kept them separate and strung them into this film. It has a certain "pot luck" feel. Mia Farrow and Jeff Daniels turn in phoned-in performances, and I had to remind myself halfway through this the great Gordon Willis lensed the thing.
I have to laugh at those who calls this "one of Woody's best." (Note: every Woody Allen film is called "one of Woody's best." Except maybe Everyone Says I Love You.) This is the man who turned the conventions of romantic comedy upside-down with Annie Hall, made an endearing, deft film about moral responsibility called Broadway Danny Rose, took a look at the follies of an era and the perils of loneliness in Zelig, discoursed on the importance and etherealness of luck in Match Point. To put this little underpowered conceit of a movie up there with those and other masterpieces is utterly ridiculous. Oh, and Steve, "Bowler Hat" from Pacific Overtures is a *much* better song.
Movie Review: Not accessable in Australia
Summary: 1 Stars
I was unable to view the DVD The Purple Rose of Cairo as it is limited to Regions within the USA. I am in Sydney, Australia and the DVD is of no use to me. I was very dissappointed.