My affection for Woody Allen has grown over the years. With "Crimes and Misdemeanors," I thought it had peaked, and then I saw "Match Point" and became convinced that he is not only brilliant but still has plenty to say. In this interview, Woody Allen had some interesting things to relate about his films and his own ideas: He believes in luck, as the character in "Match Point" does; he believes, as he shows in "Bullets Over Broadway," that great artists are born and not made; we're all out here on our own and our morality, as in "Crimes and Misdemeanors," is dependent on what we can live with; and he's been doing Bob Hope all these years, though by his own admission, not as well. None of this is very shocking (except maybe the Bob Hope part, until he demonstrates it in a film clip), given the messages in many of his movies.
The surprising thing in "Woody Allen: A Life in Film" is his very normal, non-neurotic demeanor, his view of his own films as to what is successful and what isn't, and what moved him to tell the stories he has.
If you're a fan of Allen's, you won't want to miss this. No matter how he may shrug his narrow shoulders, his evolution as a filmmaker has been something to behold.
