Allen's Match Point

Rating: 10/10 (30 April 2006)

I had never watched Annie Hall. I had bought several Woody Allen movies including Annie Hall some time ago, and Annie Hall was the only one still wrapped in plastic. I finally opened it and was marveled at the universe inside the characters' minds Allen had created. It also made me see Small Time Crooks and Hollywood Ending (which I had originally liked) were a piece of ****. I saw the real Woody and the "new" Woody.
Woody Allen had one more chance at showing why he is considered one of the best directors in the history of cinema. It could go either way. It was Woody Allen's Match Point.
"There are moments in a tennis match where the ball hits the top of the net, and for a split second, remains in mid-air. With a little luck, the ball goes over, and you win. Or maybe it doesn't, and you lose." This phrase with which the movie starts presents what Match Point was in the career of Allen. Allen's ball could go either way. He could either lose or win. And he won.
Match Point is my favourite movie of the year after Me and you and everyone we know and Brokeback Mountain. It has solid performances from the whole cast and especially good performances from Johansson and Rhys-Meyers. Match Point is the kind of movie which you spend hours thinking about. You think about the motifs behind every character's acts. You think about the use of certain scenes. You think about the beauty of the screenplay.
The screenplay was very strange for me. If you cut the movie into different scenes you'll definitely say: "I've seen this a thousand times before". Every scene in Match Point is a cliché. To quote some examples: The Ghost Scene and the Introduction of Nola. But that's why it's so original: Because no one had ever thought of doing the least original screenplay.
Now, if you check the trivia in IMDb of any of Allen's films you'll find many Director Trademarks. You won't with this movie. For example, there's not a single writer in this film. If I had seen this movie without knowing it was Allen's I would have thought it was another director's (for example Mike Nichols), and it's not because it's a drama. Woody's other dramas, such as Interiors, have his special touch. But this movie has none of his mannerisms. It is a new Woody. A Woody who has finally learned after a decade of failures (excluding a few such as Melinda and Melinda) that it was time to change or die. He won that match point.