Movie Icons: Woody Allen
Paul Duncan
Published by TASCHEN
review by: Louise Hall
‘Behind the familiar comic persona of the bumbling neurotic is a serious cinematic artist who meticulously controls nearly every aspect of his films,’ writes film critic Professor Glenn Hopp in his introduction, entitled ‘Poetry of the Joke’.
Needless to say, one flick through this biographic pocket-style photo book and you learn this is the underlying theme throughout.
Deliberately put together as a visual quick-flick biography, it charts 73-year-old American Woody Allen’s rise to fame, from his early days as an obscure gag-writer and oddball stand-up comic then actor to the world-acclaimed Oscar-winning writer/ director he is today.
Image heavy (150 images over 192 pages), it features previously unpublished set shots, rare film stills, up-close portraits and film posters alongside insightful quotes, both from film and life. It also consists of a chronology, a filmography and a bibliography.
The accompanying text throughout, although brief, illustrates what a brilliantly inquisitive and lively mind lies this tragic-comic mastery, or ‘thoughtful laughter’. Meanwhile, the images – Woody Allen dressed as a sperm, a robot-valet, a mad scientist, a spider mating on a gigantic web, Allen in bed with a sheep, holding an exploding dildo and a blow-up doll or chatting intensely in front of a 40-foot inflatable breast – show some of the most outrageous comedic moments in cinematic history.
Series editor Paul Duncan does a good job with Woody Allen’s kooky early work - ‘Bananas’ (1971), ‘Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (*But Were Too Afraid To Ask)’ (1972) and ‘Sleeper’ (1973). However, the book peters off towards the end and by the time it gets to Allen’s latest dramatic work - ‘Match Point’ (2005), ‘Scoop’ (2006), ‘Cassandra’ Dream’ (2007) and Vicky Christina Barelona’ (2008) – it has fallen into a patter of disappointingly conventional film stills and basic plot descriptions.
It’s a shame because otherwise it’s worth a look. The only other slight niggle is that the text throughout is presented in three languages (English, German and French).
But, all things considered, it provides a neat little snapshot of Woody Allen’s prodigious talent and is guaranteed to raise a few laughs. Of that, Woody Allen would be proud. |
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