Woody Allen

I can’t say this is fun to watch, because it isn’t. In a way this doesn’t bother me at all—it’s a style—although in a subtle way it can be quite painful, even slightly grating. I won’t say it’s a GREAT movie, exactly—it doesn’t have a message or a hero or anything like that—but it’s a great MOVIE in this certain way; great script and acting and directing, excellent execution and thematic backdrop and asides. I admired his intelligence from the beginning. I didn’t show more like him, himself, in the beginning. I’m not very sure I liked him by the end. I watch movies very slowly; I watch each segment three times, and divide it into short segments. I treat movies like books; maybe books of poetry. I guess I “should” like Woody Allen, in that sense…. I’m not sure he’s a good person, but he might be, and if he’s not, he could have been, if that makes sense. I don’t know. Determinism is weird, but you could argue that he “had to” do the movie this way. It’s honest, which isn’t common. Americans aren’t honest people, and we all think we’re singers or movie stars or something. I can’t explain it. I’m at the stage in my life, though, when I reluctantly allow that many of these “classics” that people are insufferable about, actually DO deserve a certain reputation, a certain, respect…. I don’t know. It’s a good movie. It’s not a Paramore album, but you can see, maybe, how different forces can mold a life, complement each other, maybe. 1977 was a long time ago, but there’s an argument to be made that he was “speaking to us”, after the cliche phrase. Diane Keaton is great too; she just died, awhile back. She was very pretty when she was young, and she really does embody the character, a certain character. They both do…. Life is a journey; everything in the manifested world is context, right?

…. And I am actually more of a “strike oriented left-wing intellectual” than I used to be; I love those, aging-Millennial-easing-into-a-more-feral-leftist-life, memes, right…. But age is interesting. Sometimes when you can finally put aside dithering and honour the call to fight for something, you can also finally honour this coming-of-maturity, perspective-and-forgiveness thing, about this very Western man, quixotic though he be, right. I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know what I know. show less

Halfway through, I knew I was reading a masterpiece. I saw the movie once about ten years ago, and I loved it. Some scenes have stuck with me ever since, and as I read, I remembered others. There were even moments I’d completely forgotten that felt like I was experiencing them for the first time. It made the whole experience amazing.

I’ve skimmed a few pages of scripts from some of my favorite films before, but this was my first time sitting down and reading an entire script. It was show more incredible.

It was a smart move by Woody Allen to cowrite the story with Marshall Brickman—it definitely made it stronger. I’d assume it also helped Allen grow as a filmmaker later in his career. show less

Tuvieron que pasar 16 años para que Woody Allen regresara a las letras con un nuevo libro de relatos cortos. Cómo acabar de una vez por todas con la cultura (1971), Sin plumas (1975), Efectos secundarios (1980) y Pura anarquía (2007), son los antecedentes literarios del flamante Gravedad cero (2022), una serie de 19 cuentos de los cuales 8 aparecieron previamente en la sofisticada publicación The New Yorker, y 11 fueron escritos especialmente para esta edición. Se trata del humor de show more Woody Allen en pura ebullición, todo lo que el lector puede esperar del ocurrente e intelectual humor del autor neoyorkino, quien no ha perdido ni un poco la puntería en su divertida (y pesimista) visión de la existencia. Un crew de filmación que destruye la casa de un coleccionista, vacas con instintos psicópatas, las complejidades de los bienes raíces en New York, comediantes mediocres que entretienen gallinas, almohadas capaces de conseguir la paz mundial y seres humanos que reencarnan en langostas que se sirven en restaurantes del Upper East Side, son apenas algunas de las excéntricas tramas que Allen despliega a todo galope, salpicando su prosa con múltiples referencias al arte y la cultura pop. Entre el surrealismo y la sexualidad hilarante, entornos dignos de Kafka y situaciones tan exageradas que provocan carcajadas súbitas, Woody Allen arrasa igual con la industria del cine, los críticos y la política; lo mismo satiriza a Miley Cirrus que se burla de los autos inteligentes que sufren dudas existenciales; describe porrazos en la cabeza que crean eruditos y caballos que pintan lienzos al estilo de Joan Miró. La editora de The New Yorker, Daphne Merkin, apunta atinadamente en el prólogo: “No es fácil ser gracioso”. Pero la pluma de Allen desdobla una literatura divertida y ágil, que innegablemente se siente cinematográfica. Atención al último relato Crecer en Manhattan, más extenso, cercano a la novela corta, que bien podría ser el esbozo de una nueva película del director. Las palabras que utiliza para describir ese Manhattan que tanto ama, con sus atardeceres y el verde encendido de Central Park, erizarán la piel del lector. show less

I know that "The Kugelmass Episode" gets a lot of attention--and rightfully so; it's fantastic--but "Retribution" is definitely one of the best short stories I've ever read. It was hilarious, full of the one liners and wit that Woody excels at, but it was also extremely heartfelt and beautifully written. It's such a complete piece of fiction and the character development in a little over 20 pages was greater than in many novels and films. It's a story I'll certainly be going back to many show more times. Maybe I'll even write about it. Who knows? show less