BEFORE: I was reminded last night of how subjective this film-watching process is - my brother-in-law and his wife came over, and she recently discovered the Beatles. She's coming to the party late on that one, sure, but I was happy to share some trivia and answer some questions and loan her a couple of books for further reading. Since she's a big fan of the film "Grease", it seemed like a good time to suggest we watch "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", starring the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton, as Robert Stigwood produced both movies. I like the film, because I'm down with Beatles covers of all kinds, but I forgot that most people consider it to be one of the worst films ever made, and the rest just consider it a cultural abomination. Perhaps I should have suggested we watch "Help!" instead, I hope I haven't spoiled Beatles music for her.
As for my own chain, I whittled the Woody Allen films down last year, removing the ones I definitely have seen - "Hannah and Her Sisters" is one of my absolute favorites, followed by "Radio Days", plus I had to watch "Annie Hall" and "Manhattan", plus I've viewed a smattering of others, like "Celebrity", "Small Time Crooks", "Mighty Aphrodite" and "Sweet and Lowdown". So this be about watching the ones I've missed, even if I'm sort of not sure if I've seen them. That still leaves me with a total of 33 films to go, essentially his older films (pre-1977) and the newer ones (post 2000).
I'm thinking the linking's going to be quite easy, because he's appeared in so many of his own films, and even if he didn't, someone like Diane Keaton or Mia Farrow will always be carrying over. The man himself carries over tonight from "What's New Pussycat".
THE PLOT: Woody Allen took the Japanese action film "International Secret Police: Key of Keys" and re-dubbed it, changing the plot to make it revolve around a secret egg salad recipe.
AFTER: Speaking of things being subjective, my wife's been after me for years to watch this, telling me how funny it is, but outside of a couple OK gags, I'm just not seeing it. Yes, from a filmmaking standpoint it's a fantastic concept - predating anything like Mystery Science Theater, or another favorite of mine, "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid". (I re-watched about half of that film a couple of weeks ago, and man, it's a whole different scene after you've watched some of the films they borrowed footage from...)
I liked the self-referential stuff, like the hair supposedly caught in the camera, but even that went on too long, and I've seen that bit done better in Tex Avery cartoons.
Perhaps this film is best watched in a group setting, or with someone else who's already familiar with it - I just found that most of the gags fell flat. And it's a little weird that all the Japanese women call to mind Woody's clear Asian obsession, which then calls to mind Soon-Yi, his daughter/wife. And here I was, trying to avoid mention of his personal life, so I could just focus on his films. That's now impossible - the door has been opened.
Also starring Tatsuya Mihashi, Akiko Wakabayashi (last seen in "You Only Live Twice"), Mie Hama (ditto) and John Sebastian with The Lovin' Spoonful.
RATING: 3 out of 10 jars of mayonnaise
No comments:
Post a Comment