Every Wednesday, FM writers Simon Columb and Brogan Morris write two short reviews on Woody Allen films … in the hope of watching all his films over the course of roughly 49 weeks. If you have been watching Woody’s films and want to join in, feel free to comment with short reviews yourself! Next up is Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask & Manhattan…
Simon Columb on Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex…
Prior to filmmaking, Woody Allen was a comic-writer – making more money than both his parents combined at the age of 17 writing. EYAWTKAS*BWATA (Wow…) is a great example of his darting mind and surrealist humour. Split into seven different stories, references range between Hamlet in the first sketch through to Antonioni and Fellini in later sequences. Women climaxing only in public, men in love with sheep and sperm as men ready to jump to their doom in ejaculation, surely this can only be Woody Allen at his most playful – the latter scene amongst his very best as Woody’s nervous sperm worries: “What if he’s masturbating? I’m liable to end up on the ceiling.” The bite size chunks of comedy and frank discussion about sex make it a favourite. Though Gene Wilder stands out in his short, sheep scenes, it’s Woody’s film – and a joy to watch him in his prime.
Brogan Morris on Manhattan…
Woody Allen’s Manhattan is, like Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, one of the definitive films about New York. Since he went international, Woody has cast his eye upon many of the world’s cities, but neither he nor any other filmmaker will ever likely topple the effect Manhattan has as a live postcard from some fantastical world metropolis. No city has ever been made to look so purely filmic, but what’s even more impressive is that that’s just a backdrop to a funny, finely-observed, effortlessly performed romance. Woody Allen movies are and always will be separated most simply into the categories ‘Before Manhattan’ and ‘After Manhattan’. Not only does the film signify Allen’s shift from sketch comedian to bona fide filmmaker, but it represents a towering peak that Allen should be proud to know will be the unbeatable movie of his career.
Brogan Morris – Lover of film, writer of words, pretentious beyond belief. Thinks Scorsese and Kubrick are the kings of cinema, but PT Anderson and David Fincher are the young princes. Follow Brogan on Twitter if you can take shameless self-promotion.
Originally published October 2, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
