Crimes and Misdemeanors
I think I should never expect something from a film. How should I put it, I feel like lately there really is no film that has blown me away. (Note how this is utterly wrong! It’s only a feeling, and at least “Dr. Strangelove” did blow me away.) They are objectively great, but ultimately a disappointment due to my expectations.
“Crimes and Misdemeanors” is perfect, it has Woody Allen, film references, an engaging storyline that has every element of interest for me – twisted love stories, a murder and people talking about everything that is happening to them. But perhaps it’s because I knew how much I am going to like “Crimes and Misdemeanors” that I ended up not really liking it, as much as I would hate it.
In the end, the part about the film I loved the most was when Woody Allen was going out with his niece. They had better chemistry than literally every single other couple in the film, ha ha ha. How like Woody Allen, really. Everything else, I don’t really know what to say about it. It’s well done and meaningful and all, but perhaps what I was missing out was… the humor? Truth to be told, what I enjoy about Woody Allen the most is the gravity of his stories, just like how Judah’s story with his mistress indeed made me think. But these serious relationship stories are so valuable precisely because they are being uplifted by the humour without which you can neither survive Woody Allen’s films nor life itself. Yet in this film, Woody Allen with Mia Farrow however do nothing but complain and complain and complain about everything, and perhaps no single funny line has been passed between them. It’s too bad Woody Allen’s characters never kill people but just looks sad when he’s being told “I hope we can be friends”.
In the end, I feel like Dostoevsky is funnier than this film. But apart from failing my expectations on humor, I think that the humanity for the film largely makes up for it, and I totally agree that this is one of Woody Allen’s best movies, perhaps tying with “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”. I definitely liked it much more than “Husbands and Wives”, but ultimately I had less fun than with “Whatever Works”.