excellence in simplicity

Rating: 8/10 (4 December 2000)

Sweet and Lowdown, while perhaps not as vital or uproariously funny as we may expect from Woody Allen, still excellently does what it sets out to do. It is a simple comedy that romanticizes the jazz age and deals with the comic elements of a truly eccentric artist whose life story is told merely through fragments of rumors and gossip.\ First of all, as the Academy recognized, Sean Penn is outstanding. His portrayal of the ficticious Emmit Ray is both comical and emotionally potent. Samantha Morton does a wonderful job of both being cute and being taken seriously. There is no question that they deserved their nominations, not to mention they would have been fine choices to receive the Oscars themselves. But more than that, Allen himself showed the maturity and control he has gained from his thirty odd years of experience. While viewing it, the hand of a director is no where to be seen. This is not because the film isn't stylized, but because the direction is flawless. The scenes rarely drag and the comedy is creative. The dialogue is witty. And the plot has the plenty of personal emotional depth, enough to make the serious scenes in the film quite powerful. Often a problem with movies about talented people is that the filmmaker merely tells and doesn't show the audience the character's brilliance, which makes the story less believeable. In Sweet and Lowdown, however, the music is extraordinary, and it is never questioned the talent that Emmit Ray is supposed to have. This, coupled with the simplicity of the story and wonderful acting, make Sweet and Lowdown a tremendous bit of unpretentious storytelling.