Fergus
02-23-2002, 04:24 PM
Radio Days
Director: Woody Allen
Cast: Seth Green, Mia Farrow, Julie Kavner, Michael Tucker, Wallace Shawn, Diane Wiest.
Writer: Woody Allen
PG/1987/96 minutes
Those little memories that might be conjured up from seeing your old neighborhood, or a song from the radio. These are the memories Woody Allen remembers, in his tribute to those radio days of the past. Whether they are true are not, I do not know, but it is both interesting and fun to see. Watching Allen’s mind spill on to film is tends to be very offbeat, and a bit odd, but that is what makes watching his films such a great experience. There is no real plot to be found here, but as the title vaguely suggests, they are just a collection of small stories. Some of them, told through the point of view of lower class people in the eyes of younger Woody Allen, Joe, played by a tiny little Seth Green.
He goes on about how the songs played on the radio remind him of a particular event. It is strange how memories work like that, rising from that archive inside your brain that seems to be lost, but in a single second, a certain song or picture might dust off that memory, opening a doorway into the past. The film seems to stress how songs from those radio days bring back such memories. Not all of the stories revolve around Allen’s younger self, but through various characters. Like radio voice, Sally(Mia Farrow), and his Aunt Bee(Diane Wiest), who just can’t seem to find her true love. Reminds me of the way A Christmas Story is told, but on a larger scale, not sticking to one story. I guess a series of vignettes to convey the memories fit Allen’s purpose here. I truly don’t think he has one particular story that he can remember in full, but these scattered memories pulled together to create the whole works well.
Allen has a great eye for period detail, and I felt like I was taken into that time and place. The dialogue is sharp and funny; he sure doesn’t fail us in that category. I guess such a film as this could go on forever. Stories like these could continue, and he shows us that the absence of a proper resolution is a better choice. He could end it anywhere, and the way he chooses is indisputable.
Those listeners didn’t have television, and Allen illustrates here how much the radio effected these people’s lives. If some tragic event were to happen to someone they didn’t even know, they would be effected emotionally. Young Joe's obsession with the "masked avenger" is humorous to the audience because we find that he really is just a short and bald man played by Wallace Shawn. And such a little kid looks up to him, even if it is only the man's voice. The radio people ponder to themselves about how they have missed the great things about the city. While the normal people have seen it all, they have spent their time entertaining and wonder where that time has all gone. Years from now, will they be remembered? Probably not, but it is the essence of memories that keep them alive. But, as Allen points out, “as with each passing year, their voices do seem to grow dimmer.”
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00005O06M.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
He has created a marvelous tribute to the era of Radio Days, showing me a time that is rarely recalled, unless I’m threatened to get my TV taken away, then the guilt-trip line is, “all they had back then were radio’s, they didn’t have TV.” Allen, however, brings those memories back in sort of a dreamlike fashion. There is no story to be told here, just memories told to us in the way he remembers them (such as setting the place and time up with a rainy street in Rockwell, New York; it looked most beautiful when it was like that, he says). Some parts are touching, some of them are funny and full of his off-the-wall humor; I just couldn’t get enough of this movie. One of Woody Allen’s best.
****1/2 out of *****
[This message has been edited by Fergus (edited 02-25-2002).]
Director: Woody Allen
Cast: Seth Green, Mia Farrow, Julie Kavner, Michael Tucker, Wallace Shawn, Diane Wiest.
Writer: Woody Allen
PG/1987/96 minutes
Those little memories that might be conjured up from seeing your old neighborhood, or a song from the radio. These are the memories Woody Allen remembers, in his tribute to those radio days of the past. Whether they are true are not, I do not know, but it is both interesting and fun to see. Watching Allen’s mind spill on to film is tends to be very offbeat, and a bit odd, but that is what makes watching his films such a great experience. There is no real plot to be found here, but as the title vaguely suggests, they are just a collection of small stories. Some of them, told through the point of view of lower class people in the eyes of younger Woody Allen, Joe, played by a tiny little Seth Green.
He goes on about how the songs played on the radio remind him of a particular event. It is strange how memories work like that, rising from that archive inside your brain that seems to be lost, but in a single second, a certain song or picture might dust off that memory, opening a doorway into the past. The film seems to stress how songs from those radio days bring back such memories. Not all of the stories revolve around Allen’s younger self, but through various characters. Like radio voice, Sally(Mia Farrow), and his Aunt Bee(Diane Wiest), who just can’t seem to find her true love. Reminds me of the way A Christmas Story is told, but on a larger scale, not sticking to one story. I guess a series of vignettes to convey the memories fit Allen’s purpose here. I truly don’t think he has one particular story that he can remember in full, but these scattered memories pulled together to create the whole works well.
Allen has a great eye for period detail, and I felt like I was taken into that time and place. The dialogue is sharp and funny; he sure doesn’t fail us in that category. I guess such a film as this could go on forever. Stories like these could continue, and he shows us that the absence of a proper resolution is a better choice. He could end it anywhere, and the way he chooses is indisputable.
Those listeners didn’t have television, and Allen illustrates here how much the radio effected these people’s lives. If some tragic event were to happen to someone they didn’t even know, they would be effected emotionally. Young Joe's obsession with the "masked avenger" is humorous to the audience because we find that he really is just a short and bald man played by Wallace Shawn. And such a little kid looks up to him, even if it is only the man's voice. The radio people ponder to themselves about how they have missed the great things about the city. While the normal people have seen it all, they have spent their time entertaining and wonder where that time has all gone. Years from now, will they be remembered? Probably not, but it is the essence of memories that keep them alive. But, as Allen points out, “as with each passing year, their voices do seem to grow dimmer.”
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00005O06M.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
He has created a marvelous tribute to the era of Radio Days, showing me a time that is rarely recalled, unless I’m threatened to get my TV taken away, then the guilt-trip line is, “all they had back then were radio’s, they didn’t have TV.” Allen, however, brings those memories back in sort of a dreamlike fashion. There is no story to be told here, just memories told to us in the way he remembers them (such as setting the place and time up with a rainy street in Rockwell, New York; it looked most beautiful when it was like that, he says). Some parts are touching, some of them are funny and full of his off-the-wall humor; I just couldn’t get enough of this movie. One of Woody Allen’s best.
****1/2 out of *****
[This message has been edited by Fergus (edited 02-25-2002).]