Thursday, May 14, 2009

Crimes and Misdemeanors

"Sometimes to have a little luck is the most brilliant plan."

Movies don't get any better than this! Crimes and Misdemeanors is Woody Allen's philosophical tale of ethics and morality, weaving two stories together.

On the darker side of things we have Judah Rosenthal a highly respected ophthalmologist (brilliantly played by (Martin Landau) and "devoted" family man who finds himself in a bit of a pickle when Dolores (Anjelica Huston), the woman he's been having an affair with for a few years sends a letter spilling the beans to his wife. As luck would have it, he finds the letter first and is spared for the time being. He tries talking sense into Dolores but she's hysterical and refuses to be tossed aside. In her desperation she continues to threaten going to his wife with the truth and to go public with some of his shady financial dealings. Judah reluctantly decides that quite possibly, murder is the only option.

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On the flip side we have an unhappily married documentary filmmaker Cliff (Allen), who in a time of need takes the job of doing a film portrait of his wife's pompous brother Lester (Alan Alda), a successful television producer. It is while doing this that he meets and falls in love with Hallie (Mia Farrow), an associate producer.

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This is a thought provoking, at times shocking, dark and funny, film that asks many questions such as: Can you commit morally objectionable acts and not be consumed with guilt? Can anything truly matter if "god" doesn't exist?

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There are strong performances given by each and every actor in this film. Martin Landau is so friggin' good in this! I read an interview with Woody Allen where he stated that Landau is the one actor he has worked with in which every way he moved and gave his lines was exactly how he had envisioned it and he attributed it to the fact that they both grew up in the same area of Brooklyn so they developed a similar way of interacting. Alan Alda is fantastic as usual. His Lester is pretentious, self obsessed and in turn really humourous to watch. And in small but welcome roles we have Jerry Orbach as Judah's dirty brother and Sam Waterston as the painfully kind and sweet rabbi Ben who, although going blind, somehow comes out a winner in the end.

-Amanda

1989
Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
IMDB: 8/10

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