Woody Allen:  Film By Film, by Jason Solomons

This gorgeously photographed book is probably the ideal way that someone can approach the lengthy film career of Woody Allen at least as it gets to only a few years ago.  The author is clearly a fan of Allen’s work, but not an uncritical one, and the result is a work that provides readers with an entrance into the movies of Woody Allen (and those about Woody Allen) along with a discussion of their plot, characterization, critical review, box office appeal, and their place within Allen’s body of work as a whole.  The author addresses, in an adroit and tactful fashion, the influence between Allen’s own life and art, and between what he seeks to convey in his films and the way those films are viewed in the context of the auteur and the wider world of contemporary film.  There are quite a few worthwhile quotes from the actors and actresses who have worked with Allen and found his laid-back style of filmmaking to be somewhat distressing because he had so little to say to those who acted in his films.  The result is a fascinating look at the films of a complicated man, and that is probably what the people who read this book are looking for.

The author does what he sets out to do, and that is to look at Woody Allen’s career film by film, divided by decade and treated in rigorous chronological order.  First, though, before marching along Allen’s prolific career, a task that takes more than 250 pages, there is a foreword by noted Spanish director Alfonoso Cuarón and an interview with Woody Allen himself that gives this book a semi-official status, along with a discussion of Woody as an actor and writer, his themes, styles, and motifs, and his cultural impact.  After that the author begins with his work in the 1960’s, which began with his screenwriting “What’s New Pussycat,” and dubbing “What’s Up, Tiger Lily?” as well as a part in Casino Royale before looking at his 1969 directorial debut “Take The Money And Run.”  The author moves on to his early films where he honed his work and achieved his first artistic and commercial peak, starting with the obscure “Men Of Crisis:  The Harvey Wallinger Story” before moving on to “Bananas,” “Play It Again, Sam,” “Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex (But Were Afraid To Ask),” “Sleeper,” “Love And Death,” “Annie Hall,” “Interiors,” and “Manhattan.”  The author then turns toward the often-neglected works of Allen in the 1980’s, including “Stardust Memories,” “A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy,” “Zelig,” “Broadway Danny Rose,” “The Purple Rose Of Cairo,” “Hannah And Her Sisters,” “Radio Days,” “September,” “Another Woman,” his “Oedipus Wrecks” from “New York Stories,” and “Crimes And Misdemeanors.”  After that the author looks at the mixed record of Allen’s films in the 1990’s, including “Alice,” “Shadows And Fog,” “Husbands And Wives,” “Manhattan Murder Mystery,” “Bullets Over Broadway,” “Don’t Drink The Water,” “Mighty Aphrodite,” “Everyone Says I Love You,” “Deconstructing Harry,” “Wild Man Blues,” “Celebrity,” and “Sweet And Lowdown.”  Finally, the author looks at the films that Allen has made or that have been made about him since 2000, including “Small Time Crooks,” “The Curse Of The Jade Scorpion,” “Sounds From A Town I Love,” “Hollywood Ending,” “Anything Else,” “Melinda And Melinda,” “Match Point,” “Scoop,” “Cassandra’s Dream,” “Vicky Christina Barcelona,” “Whatever Works,” “You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger,” “Midnight In Paris,” “To Rome With Love,” “Woody Allen:  A Documentary,” “Blue Jasmine,” “Magic In The Moonlight,” and “Irrational Man.”

From these discussions one can gain a certain insight about Allen and his work.  For the most part, he is able to acquire talented casts but he does not always know what to do with them.  He began with zany and comic films but frequently got darker over time.  Allen’s consistent love of escapism through film and his fondness of younger female leads is something that became increasingly problematic in the 1990’s and his aging and seeming tiredness eventually led him to cease acting even as he continued to write roles seemingly based on him played by younger actors.  He wrestled with questions of morality and identity and what it means to be an artist and frequently had trouble dealing with the way that his work was viewed as being an extension of his own personal views, which led some of his works to be viewed as a betrayal of a sort of contract between the filmmaker and the audience.  A lack of success in the USA and UK also led him in the 2000’s to continue experimenting and also to travel to Europe and work with European actors and actresses and even to get funding from European sources once the money dried up stateside, making this a work that presents some serious questions about Allen’s work and its view while also demonstrating a critical view of the author’s importance in creating genres like the mockumentary and relationship film.