Woody Allen attaining complete freedom

Rating: Null/10 (25 August 2012)

Woody Allen has happily reached a stage when he has no baggage to carry. What he seems to be saying is: I pretty damn well make my movie anyway I like and if you, the audience, don't digs it, tough! Because of this, you sense a lot of "freedom" in this new movie, giving a smorgasbord of Allen goodies, without a lot of calculations. As a result, you feel really relaxed watching this unassuming, undemanding piece of work. People who grew tired of Allen have left the scene long ago. People who keep watching him, like this one, never grows tired of Woody Allen.
There has been a painful transition, when this auteur who once vowed never to leave Manhattan realized that this love relationship was gradually becoming one-sided. Manhattan, unfortunately, did not reciprocate with undying devotion. An opportunity to venture into the root of the mother language tantamount to offering him a "take two" in his life and career. Acoss the Atlantic he went, to make "Match point". The rest is history: a "second spring" in Mr Allen's filmmaking.
Some material I've read suggested that "To Rome with love" movie represents a collection that Allen recovered form the bottom of a drawer, idea jotted down over the years on pieces of scrap paper. That is not hard to believe. There is a complete absence of structure. What we see are sketches that he didn't even bother to connect in anyway other than the titular reference – they all happen in Rome. Even the temporal reference is haphazard – one story happened all within a day while another takes place over maybe a few weeks, or even longer. But that is perfectly alright. As I mentioned, it gives you a sense of complete "freedom" while enjoying it.
Of the four "sketches", the least appealing is a limp borrowing of "The Trueman show". There really isn't any depth to speak of in this depiction of a John Doe's reaction to becoming famous overnight for no reason whatsoever. Roberto Benigni had never convinced the general audience that his 1997 Oscar was truly deserved, and has long since grown tiresome, unfunny. If iconic Italian content is required for this movie, Monica Bellucci would be top choice. I guess Benigni comes cheaper.
The remaining three are all delightful.
One starts with lovely Alison Pill (quite unforgettable as Zelda Fitzgerald in "Midnight in Paris") as an American tourist finding romance in a chance encounter with a handsome Italian lawyer. Most delightful is Allen himself, in his first personal appearance in 6 years, as the father. The Woody-Allen-ish character who is a retired music promoter cum opera director provides Woody-Allen-ish staple through his parrying with the left-thinking prospective son-in-law. On top of that is the mediating effort, with contrary effects, by his psychiatrist wife (Judy Davis). Best-yet-to-come is the deliciously silly development when the Italian father was found to be a "Caruso in showers" (played by first rate real life tenor Fabio Armiliato), in a very literally sense as the man sings beautifully ONLY when in a shower. Yes, make your wildest guess on the plot development – and your wish is granted!
Another segment is entirely in Italian, with innocent-looking Alessandro Tiberi and pretty Alessandra Mastronardi as a just-married couple from a small town coming to Rome hoping to launch a career with the help of the young man's relatives in high society. This is where the mistaken-identity charade is played to the full when the innocent couple gets accidentally separated. They each end up having an education in sophisticated sexual relationships, he with an immensely popular prostitute played by Penelope Cruz, and she with a sex symbol of a celebrity actor played by Antonio Albanese.
For language balance, the story centred on a young American architect played by Jesse Eisenberg is entirely in English. It all starts when his down-to-earth lover (Greta Gerwig) takes in a friend on a temporary basis, an actress from L.A, who is simultaneously out of a job and a relationship. Ellen Page is absolutely brilliant in this role, seducing her best friend's lover. Also good to see in this story is Alex Baldwin who starts out as a real character in a chance encounter with the young architect while reminiscing on the days he spent in that part of Rome as a young man. Through a seamless metamorphosis, he becomes surreal, something of the young man's inner voice or conscience, visible and audible only to him. But then, some viewer with a different perspective can also turn the whole thing around, seeing the entire episode of the young love triangle as the older man's mental reconstruction of what happened when he was a young man in Rome. Such cleverness from Allen!
Finally, it's a pleasure to see (hear, to be more precise) the film opening and closing with "Volare", book-ending a lively, frothy, delightful Italian adventure.