Life in 19th-century Russia; what a joke!

Rating: 8/10 (28 July 2010)

Woody Allen is famous for his sardonic and existential humor today, but what a shock and delight it must have been for audiences to see him introduce his bleak world-view to us in the 1970s. With films like Sleeper and Love and Death, Allen uses particular contexts and settings to show how his outlook on life is as universal as human beings themselves. No longer set in the dystopian future, Allen shifts to 19th-century Russia as famous writers such as Tolstoy and Dostoevsky during the backdrop of the War of 1812 and serfdom.
This is fertile ground for comic opportunity and Allen certainly makes the best of it. His signature stand-up routine finds many victims here and there are some very funny one-liners. Yet, what seems to be even more striking is how much stride Allen made visually between this film and his previous, Sleeper (1973). There is much better cinematography here as well as more striking images, such as the battle scenes and the image of Death moving across an open field. It is obvious Allen was quickly assimilating himself as a filmmaker and it would but 2 years before going on a run very few directors can match. Despite some imperfections, Love and Death is classical Woody Allen: bizarre, morbid, thought-provoking and very funny.