the original Woody Allen film

Rating: 9/10 (7 August 2008)

I have seen Woody Allen's 'Love and Death' several times through the years and I kind of look at it as a standard bearer for Woody's films, a sort of litmus test: how funny is the movie compared to 'Love and Death'? Though I have seen almost his entire oeuvre, I think of this one as his break out film, the real Woody as filmmaker, while allowing us to see the true comic genius he is as a performer and filmmaker. Too bad the French appreciate him more than we do as an American audience, which is why they heaped awards and praise upon him through his life.
I think what gets by many people is that Woody can also be a serious artistic film director, as surely as any Europe produced in the latter twentieth century. Like any of those efforts, Woody uses the whole drama canvass and this is where he stands apart. Does he repeat himself sometimes through his movies? Sure, but how many times did Van Gogh or Picasso repeat themselves? Celluloid is the same as those other mediums.
But upon watching this movie again this week, it made me realize something I have not seen in the other reviews, the influence of the Marx brothers comedies on this film. The obvious zinging sounds, the casual verbal double entendre repartee, the put upon Napoleon double, it's all there. Another insight I picked up this time is that fourth wall breakdown, connection to the audience. While that was standard in early t.v. comedies such as the variety shows, in movies, Woody really pioneers that effort, mimicked to great effect in 'Ferris Buller's Day Off' and even not so great films such as 'Kuffs'.
The film is essentially a riff on Russian Literature, Russian music, Ingmar Bergman films, European philosophy, stream-of-consciousness self-awareness. Woody was self mocking Jewishness long before Sasha Baron Cohen and his Borat character arrived on the scene - the purists out there will state Jackie Mason actually pioneered this but not in film. Either way, if one were to begin watching Woody Allen films, this would be the start, where he finally perfected the comic template that would not change until he started channeling his inner Bergman.
Sidenote: I actually have seen Woody in person, up close, at the Parthenon in Athens, of all places. Regretfully, I never got to meet him but only spoke to his wife briefly.