You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
Neither increased nor a great cheap wine, the latest film by Woody Allen “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger” lets himself look with a wide smile, knowing that in his case, repetition is always very tasteful. Nothing to expand its pool of listeners, but his followers will spend a good time.
In Britain, as in New York or Barcelona, the human being is often confronted to follow his instincts or listen to reason. Alfie (Anthony Hopkins) has decided to choose the first option to go live with a young prostitute (Lucy Punch), leaving his wife Helena (Gemma Jones) in tears, to believe any priest fortuneteller. Their daughter Sally (Naomi Watts) hides a desire for more and more obvious to her boss (Antonio Banderas), while her husband Roy (Josh Brolin) is seeking inspiration for his book by looking at his pretty neighbor (Freida Pinto) opposite. It goes without saying that the stars announce changes.
While Francis Ford Coppola loses his time in productions pretentious and Martin Scorsese accepts almost any project, Woody Allen continues to be one of the most consistent filmmakers, always giving birth to his movie every year. Perhaps it hardly changes its implementation, it tends to always start with omniscient narration and his favorite themes are repeated ad nauseam, the quality is generally the part, except for some differences at the beginning of 21e century.
Lately he has focused on exploring a single genre by feature, be it drama (“Cassandra’s Dream”), romance (“Vicky Christina Barcelona”) and comedy (“Whatever Works”). “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger” celebrates the union of these three axes (preferred) with some success. The caustic replies are not lacking, the desire is palpable and a certain melancholy emerges relations irretrievably doomed to failure or disappointment outstanding.
It is nevertheless clear that the filmmaker could have gone even further, providing a true character study as it did in the era of “Crimes and Misdemeanors” or even “Deconstructing Harry” instead of beating around the bush. He might like a bee foraged on subjects dear to his heart (the suffering in the creation, the need for a muse, the unconscious desire of man to a younger woman), emotion is always wait.
Like the splendid Palme d’Or Uncle Boonmee by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, which will soon show, this new test bespectacled director wants spiritual in its approach almost metaphysical existence. Although it deals with reincarnation and past lives, it is to increase the choices available to individuals. Strangely, some retrograde morality embraces this theory that the grass is always greener on the neighbors. Thus, those who sacrifice their holdings will live more disappointments that people who suffer the actions, such as how the game is not worth the candle still …
Of course the creator of the legendary “Annie Hall” does not seek anything but a pleasant entertainment, it succeeds handily. Pity that despite his good moments, its many laughs procured and quality of its distribution, “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger” finally seems a little unfinished, and it is likely to forget as quickly as “Scoop” and “Melinda and Melinda”. A nice woody however remained without a guilty pleasure for movie lovers who have almost no good light comedy to put in their mouths.
