funnier now that I've gotten deeper into Russian literature, European history, and Bergman

Rating: 8/10 (4 September 2006)

Love & Death is an example of Woody Allen as a filmmaker, writer and comedy star as, one of the characters says in Stardust Memories, as an "early, funny movie". If anything it reminds me most in tone to how Allen used to write in his short fiction and little bits he contributed to magazines and books. The comedy is both verbal and physical, and its probably that one film that connects him from those earlier films of the 70s into the more personal realm he would dive into in the late 70s and beyond. It's light comedy even as it deals with Death (both with a capital and lower case d), murder, war, hunger, the struggles of love and marriage, religion, politics, and other penchants of Russian literature. It mixes this up to an effect that isn't 100% successful, but does keep me laughing on repeat viewings.
Allen's character Boris Grushenko goes through an epic story at first having to face Death itself as a child (great homage to Bergman, not the first for the filmmaker), then he goes into a War he (of course, being the usual Allen character) doesn't want to go into, but does, and comes out alive somehow. He marries his cousin Sonja (Diane Keaton, one of her funniest performances), to her dismay as she doesn't love him- at first. When she realizes so, it is then into the biggest chunk of the film, as she plots for Boris to assassinate Napoleon. There's almost an overload of some classic Allen quips and puns and other gags, and sometimes as Boris and Sonja break into philosophical discussions, Allen mocks this to the point where you can't help but laugh. I didn't totally get this joke that happens more than once in Love & Death, until I read some Dostoyevsky, and then it clicked further. One particularly funny bit is when Allen's Boris writes the 'ragged claws scuttling across the floor' line. But there are almost too many to list here. The key is that there are enough so that at least some can stick even if one or two are a little cheesy thirty years later. But its hard not to bust a gut as Allen has a talk in close-up with the audience as Napoleon's knocked out.
It's a movie with a gleeful way about it as Allen Lampoons many of the most dramatic points, either real or written about or fictionalized, in that time of 19th century European/Russian history. It's a parody, but not one overloaded with dirty jokes like a Mel Brooks movie. And it's another showcase for Allen and Keaton's perfect on screen chemistry, as she shows her own comic chops, usually playing it straight or with some goofiness. I love the musical choices too.