"Crimes and Misdemeanors" (9/10)

[notchreturns]

Crimes and Misdemeanors 9/10 or ****
Written & Directed By:Woody Allen
Starring:Martin Landau, Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Alan Alda, Anjelica Houston, Jerry Orbach, Claria Bloom, Joanna Gleason and Sam Waterston
Rated PG-13 104 Minutes

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/6305075328.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

The tagline says it all "A film about humanity."

"Crimes and Misdemeanors" is about the choices we make and how those choices affect us every minute we are breathing.It offers a bold, unflinching look at the questions we all face in are search for happiness and the choices we will make for it.

Judah Rosenthal(Martin Landau)is a wealthy opthamologist, revered by friends and family as a great man.He world begins to crumble when his mistress of many years(Anjelica Houston)threatens to expose their affair and Judah's questionable finicial deals to his loving, unsuspecting wife(Claria Bloom).Desperate, his seeks the advice of his brother Jack(Jerry Orbach)who has ties to the mob and one of his patients, Rabbi Ben(Sam Waterston), who is going blind.From then on Judah's life and faith become twisted and broken apart in all sorts of directions.

Across town, the rabbi's sister(Joanna Gleason)has all but divorced her second rate filmmaker husband Cliff(Woody Allen).Cliff's work now includes making documentarys on toxic waste and homelessness.However, Cliff decides to take on the job of filming the documentary of his brother in law/TV producer Lester(Alan Alda)While, Cliff sees his move as "selling out" he believes this will be his only chance to get close to Hally Reed(Mia Farrow), the documentary's producer.Cliff's life and thoughts become only of Hally.He tries to set up dinners, he calls at odd moments, he asks weird questions, etc.His life revolves around this women.In the end, his life changes drastically in ways it could only happen in "real" life.


Acting:
Great acting all around, but Martin Landau steals the show.He creates a character so human and real you can't help but believe he is a real person.Woody Allen is equally good in a calmed down, more serious role.However, he still delivers acouple of great one-liners here and there.Alan Alda is very good as the pompous, selfish producer.The rest of the supporting actors are great in their roles.

Writing:
Real and believable.Woody Allen is able to create such flawed, deep characters it makes me wonder if he is human.Their words, actions, thoughts, and inner demons all make them more belivable.A truly great script.

Directing:
Another great job by Allen.His story is very easy to follow even though the characters and situations are very complex.His score is very jazzy, but in a couple of scenes it becomes almost "Hitchcockian" in a way, which I enjoyed.He gives equal time to each of the two stories and in the end I felt very satisfied with both outcomes.

Overall:
A great Woody Allen film.The acting, writing, direction, score are all superb.The all star cast all feed of eachother brillantly adding to the experience.In the end, "Crimes and Misdemeanors" is a fascinating, touching and at times heartbreaking piece of film.If you are a Woody Allen fan you should have already seen this movie, if not, go rent this film right now!!! 9/10 or ****

[Fergus]

Crimes and Misdemeanors was, I think, the last of Woody Allen's tributes to his favorite director Ingmar Bergman. It contained interesting comments on the nature of human beings. The film is broken down into two stories. The first, led by Martin Landau, who suffers grief from committing a terrible crime against humanity. I thought that it was a good idea to explore that side of human nature and how a person like Landau's character would react to such an event. And an even better idea to split the film into two stories in order to keep us from being bored by the same story. This first story, I believe, is the better of the two, in that Woddy's story with him and Mia Farrow is less compelling, but altogether, it is quite thought-provoking.

I heard that Woody had written and shot another storyline for his character to follow with Mia Farrow. Then, when he got to the editing room, he decided that the film wasn't going to work. So, he went back, rewrote, and re shot the second story, which is what you see on film today. I thought that was quite an interesting tidbit. Woody Allen has created the last of his masterpieces, I don't think he will get this high again, but it was nice seeing him get there.

(****1/2) of five or (9/10)