A documentary in collaboration with Woody Allen about Woody Allen/ What do the critics think?

Charso Press: In the last half century, many attempts have been made to present an image of Woody Allen in the form of media; From the comic strip written and drawn by Stuart Hempel from 1976 to 1984 to the numerous books created about the artist. In the meantime, several documentary films have been made.

Barbara Koppel’s 1997 documentary Wild Man Blues is one of them, and other Allen documentaries include the 2002 cable TV documentary Woody Allen: A Life, directed by Time film critic Richard Schickel, which interspersed Allen interviews with clips. Is.

In 2011, PBS produced a documentary titled “Woody Allen: A Documentary” directed by Robert B. Wide, as part of the “American Masters” series, which features Allen himself along with a number of prominent figures in his life.

“Woody Allen: A Documentary” is a 2011 television documentary miniseries directed by Robert B. Waid about comedian and filmmaker Woody Allen. The film, which was part of the series “American Masters” on PBS, covered Allen’s career as a stand-up comedian, comedy writer, film director and screenwriter. At the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards, the series received 2 nominations: for Outstanding Documentary Series and for Directing a Documentary Program.

This 2-part miniseries follows Allen’s childhood, living in a large Jewish family near Brooklyn, New York in the 1930s, to his career in Greenwich Village as a stand-up comedian and comedy writer alongside Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Neil Simon and Larry Gelbart on Sid Caesar’s Your Show. It also covers Allen’s early comedies, his multi-award winning success for Annie Hall (1977) and his reputation as a writer and director, as well as the highs and lows of his professional and personal life in the seven decades leading up to his last film. [در آن زمان] “Midnight in Paris” (2011) speaks.

Many artists, historians and critics are present in this program and have talked about Woody Allen, including Diane Keaton, Dianne Wiest, Scarlett Johansson, Penelope Cruz, Mariel Hemingway, Mira Sorvino, Naomi Watts, Julie Kovner, Louise Leeser, Owen Wilson, Antonio Banderas, John Cusack, Josh Brolin, Sean Penn, Chris Rock, Larry David, Martin Scorsese, Dick Kaute, Annette Eisdorff, Leonard Maltin, Richard Schickel, Juliet Taylor, Gordon Willis and Willmus Sigmund are among them.

Woody Allen: A Documentary, a 3 hour 12 minute documentary aired in 2 parts on November 20, 2011. The documentary follows Woody Allen on the set of his movie and returns to Brooklyn as he visits his childhood haunts.

The typewriter that created the most pleasures for mankind

Guardian critic Philip French wrote about it:

Although Robert Waid recently made the British film “How to Lose Friends and Alienate People” and before that the movie “Mother’s Night” adapted from Kurt Vonnegut’s book, Waid’s specialty is documentaries about American comedians, and he The fascinating film has returned to its original position. The film is a 2-part television adaptation that follows Woody Allen around New York as a large group of friends, colleagues and admiring observers review his life and work.

The film begins with his happy childhood in Brooklyn as the well-loved son of lower-middle-class Jewish parents in the early 1940s, and cuts to 2011, when he is recovering from a critical period with box office success for his highest-grossing film to date. Today is Midnight in Paris, it ends. Alan is seen as good, funny, candid and humble, while there are surprising revelations about all aspects of his life; Well-chosen excerpts from his films and TV interviews, and a glimpse of the Olympia typewriter, a German model, with which Allen has put every word he’s written to paper since he bought it as a teenager some 60 years ago. Is. After Shakespeare’s pen, has any tool other than this typewriter been able to create more pleasure for mankind?

Like his hero director Ingmar Bergman, Allen’s style has steadily progressed through distinct periods dominated by a number of inspirational women – with Diane Keaton, Mia Farrow and later Scarlett Johansson. The centerpiece is “Annie Hall,” in which Allen went from being a writer-director whose films were a collection of brilliant comic sketches strung together to true cinema, driven by character and mood, and a genre. New and very effective. The wide-ranging comedy covers a lot of ground at 2 hours, leaving us a little disappointed by its omissions (no mention of Bob Hope or Groucho Marx, for example). However, he faces a painful breakup with Mia Farrow (who is admittedly somewhat insane). Either way, it’s not a movie you want to miss.

Maker of great movies that have stood the test of time

Express critic Alan Hunter wrote:

Robert B. Waid’s highly engaging “Woody Allen: A Documentary” may not tell you everything you wanted to know about Woody, but it does an excellent job of covering his career.

A long, humbling interview with Allen is at the heart of the film, which is filled with old archive footage (including a distraught Allen in the boxing ring with a kangaroo) and insightful interviews with Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Meryl Hemingway and others.

Allen is likable in the sense that each of his successes has been a happy accident and he’s made great movies that have stood the test of time. Mia Farrow is a notable but hardly surprising absentee, leaving you itching to revisit personal favorites like Manhattan and Danny Rose’s Broadway.

I watched it with a big smile on my face

Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw gave this documentary 3 out of 5 stars and wrote:

A new documentary has everything you ever wanted to know about Woody; But you’re afraid to ask about just one thing.

This film version of a PBS documentary that originally aired over 3 hours in length is an intimate, affectionate, warm and unabashed study of the great comedian and filmmaker Woody Allen, directed by Robert B. Waid, who directed Curb Your Enthusiasm. Ken” by Larry David. The film features fascinating behind-the-scenes footage of Allen directing on location, in the studio, working on the editing suite, as well as magnificent material about Woody’s childhood and early life that is as compelling as Philip Roth’s novel.

I watched this fascinating movie with a big smile on my face. I don’t think anyone who loves Alan or cinema could do anything else. It’s almost awe-inspiring to see him writing on his yellow papers or hammering away at the typewriter he’s had since he was a teenager. There is no more inspiring story in postwar American cinema than his: the comedic genius who started out as a newspaper writer, then became a stand-up comedian, and then a filmmaker who insisted on copyright without needing it and anyone else. who became the evangelist of European cinema masters.

All that being said, Waid seems to have lost his nerve to be caught up in the big Soon-Yi scandal, the horrific moment in 1992 when it was revealed that Woody Allen was having an affair with his partner Mia Farrow’s adopted daughter. A feeling that caused karmic damage and then, so to speak, his work was lost. This story can shed light on his non-stop work, but Waid does not care to discuss these issues. His wife Soon-Yi is discussed in passing, and a montage of the front pages of the yellow papers is shown, with Alan gently saying that people are entitled to whatever opinion they like. Actually, this question has a very open answer. Is this the elephant in the living room? Well, Woody Allen may have fallen in love with the wrong woman, but it looks like the relationship has been pretty solid since then, and maybe there’s nothing more to say.

Part of the fun of watching this movie is seeing people who were legendary names in the credits of movies we grew up with, people like Jack Rollins, who was Woody Allen’s manager with the late Charles H. Joffe and then executive producer from the early days. Letty Aronson, Allen’s sister and producer since the early 90s, is also interviewed. This documentary is enjoyable, though it doesn’t go too far below the surface.

A movie that ends at the top

Dave Cullen of Time Out, who gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, wrote about the film:

This 2-part American Masters TV documentary about Woody Allen, produced by Curb Your Enthusiasm producer and director Robert B. Waid, is a joint effort with Woody (who seems uncharacteristically happy to be interviewed). arrives), so we see him at home (showing the typewriter he bought for $40 when he was 16), sitting on his bed and writing, standing outside his childhood home in Brooklyn.

The interviewees are first-rate – Diane Keaton, Martin Scorsese, Sean Penn – the clips are reminiscent of Woody at his best, and the making-of “You’ll Meet a Tall, Brunette Stranger” hints at what’s to come. Woody was said to have given up directing. Not long after, Woody breaks up with Mia Farrow (though she doesn’t like her private life being made public, and Wade is reasonable enough to agree with Woody). The success of “Midnight in Paris” at the box office makes this documentary end on a high note. Even if Owen Wilson doesn’t say “Paris” in the movie title.

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