Woody Allen: three comedies
Hollywood Ending (2002), Anything Else (2003), Zelig (1984)

I got to see three Woody Allen comedies, and although he is not one of my favourite filmmakers, his movies are always original and sometimes sarcastically funny. What I find amazing is Woody Allen's capacity to come up with so many stories in such short periods of time.

In Hollwood Ending, Woody is about to start in an interesting project. He plays the role of a movie director. His former wife proposes a movie project, and he is chosen as the director. Right before shooting begins, he becomes completely blind! According to the doctors it is all merely psychological; there is nothing wrong with his eyes. With the help of his assistant, Woody goes through the whole shooting without ever seeing what he is directing. Nobody suspects until the end, where the plot gets more complicated and poor Woody sees his movie slowly turn into a fiasco.

Anything Else tells the story of a couple, whose unstable relationship affects others in many ways. In this movie, Jerry is a stand-up comedy writer, whose girlfriend (Christina Ricci) always makes his life impossible. She is a wannabe actress who takes too many pills and is only concerned with her weight. Jerry's friend, David (played by Woody Allen) is a neurotic university professor who gives good and bad advices to his friends. Together they make Jerry's life nearly impossible, until David suggests an escape that can save Jerry's career as a writer.

Zelig is a strange film. Shot in black and white, is sort of a fake documentary about the life of a man known as the Chameleon Man, Mr. Zelig (played by Woody Allen) in the 20's and 30's. The Chameleon man was able to change his physical appearance depending with whom he was hanging around. As preposterous as the plot sounds, the excellent cinematography and effort put into creating every character and fake interview make it look like the real thing. Particularily funny are the scenes where the Chameleon Man appears at an outdoor Nazi congregation in Munich, and we see the scene of Hitler giving his speech and in the background the Chameleon Man is waving, or when he interrupts in the middle of a Sunday Mass given by the Pope, appearing in the balcony of the Vatican! A truly original and well done film.