Anecdotal Evidence

Come with me to the South of France. I could do with your refreshing honesty. and you... can wake up to the smell of oranges An all time great director, played by Liev Schreiber ( up there with Renoir and de Sica ), makes the above proposal to Elle Fanning, who plays the nervous wide-eyed co-ed who has managed to get an appointment to interview him. It is a very Woody moment - a Zeussian fascination for Ganyemede.

இன்னும் ஓர் நூற்றாண்டு இரும் The கிழம் is in such fine mid-season form. Raising the usual eviscerating questions with sleight of his sure hand.

But on 81st and Central Park West I saw a pay phone. I called Woody and said, ‘Don’t worry, I’m not suicidal. I don’t regret anything, and whatever you need to do I understand.’ Those were my exact words. I knew he had a lot to handle and the last thing he needed to do was worry about me.”   I hope, dear reader, it is as obvious to you as it is to me, that this is the click.  And, more importantly, it is clear as day that  Woody would do the same. Not so much due to cheap reciprocity but due to a depth of affection for each other. One only hopes his offer doesn't need to be taken up.

And that's how you Ace it. பிற பின்

“…in general, the young have the kindness to conceal the facts from those to whom they would cause pain. Writers who proclaim the facts are thought by the old to be libelling the young, though the young remain unconscious of being libelled.” - Bertrand Russell, Marriage and Morals In his 2015 stand-up special, ‘Live at the Comedy Store’ , Louis CK has a routine where he speaks about parents dealing with their teenage daughters’ impending sexual awakening. In that routine, Louis ribs his fellow parents who are overwrought with anxiety at having to deal with the topic. He excepts himself from the predicament by claiming that the answer to ‘what should the parent's role be?’ is‘ nothing ’: “Not advisory, supportive. Just stay out of it.” He delivers the lines with his signature style of apparent spontaneity.  It is this specific aspect of his art, along with his stand-apart histrionics that elicit the laugh here, without actually resolving the conflict in the joke’s set-up....

All people know the same truth. Our lives consist of how we choose to distort it. - Woody Allen (Deconstructing Harry) The venerable A.O.Scott of the New York Times has been writing a series of hand-wringing articles about Woody Allen, of which this is one . Scott's opinion on Allen's so called later works is as superficial as it is widespread. But it is disappointing because Scott has often been reasonably perceptive in his film assessment, a rarity cherished by the likes of me - fans of Allen who lack the articulation to elaborate why he is an artist who speaks to us like noone else does. It is disappointing because Scott has actually not done what he postures to have done.

There is no means of testing which decision is better, because there is no basis for comparison. We live everything as it comes, without warning, like an actor going on cold. And what can life be worth if the first rehearsal for life is life itself? - Milan Kundera (The Unbearable Lightness of Being) "Alternatives only exclude" says Bobby Dorfman (Jesse Eisenberg) to Vonnie -short for Veronica (Kristen Stewart) who ended up choosing his uncle (Steve Carrell) over him. He says that in CentralPark after spending a night taking her around NewYork City. The NewYork he had urged her move with him to, abandoning the California where they met. The California, which she too had then mentioned she wasn't getting much out of. But apparently her disfascination wasn't as strong as is. And/or her considerations were different and she has managed to embrace her choices better. So, who is Bobby saying the lines to, if not to himself - aloud?

I caught the latter half of 'Hannah and her Sisters' on tv last night. Yet another example of Woody's sheer mastery in the art of direction - as I understand it. In one of the last scenes in the film, Elliot (Michael Caine) kisses his wife Hannah(Mia Farrow) in bed.Earlier that evening, Caine was told, in no uncertain terms, by Lee- Hannah's sister- that their brief affair was over.

What is scarier than the destruction of the world? That the whole thing is a random, arbitrary convulsion. That the universe is morally neutral and unimaginably violent. Now how do you say that in film? Well, you have someone say it.